System and method for assisting a user to create musical compositions

ABSTRACT

A system for assisting an end user to develop a musical composition comprising a data storage medium, a plurality of musical assets stored in the data storage medium, a user interface, and an audio converter module. Each of the plurality of musical assets are associated with a functional attribute and a visual attribute, where the visual attribute provides a visual suggestion to an end user regarding the functional attribute of the musical asset. The user interface is coupled to an audio interface, a display driver and a user input handler; and is capable of rendering a graphical display that enables the end user to select between one or more visual attributes. The audio converter module captures audio recorded by the end-user through the audio interface, processes the audio; and produces a multi-track musical compilation comprised of a plurality of audio tracks mixed together in a manner where the multiple tracks are substantially musically harmonious with one another. When the end-user selects one or more visual attributes via the user interface, the audio converter is also configured to identify the musical assets associated with the one or more selected visual attributes, and alter at least one portion of an audio track based on the functional attributes associated with the identified musical assets; wherein the audio track is one the plurality of audio tracks.

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/182,982, filed on Jun. 1, 2009; U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/248,238, filed on Oct. 2, 2009; and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/266,472, filed on Dec. 3, 2009.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to the creation of music, andmore particularly to a system and method for generating a musicalcompilation having a plurality of substantially harmonious tracks.

BACKGROUND

Music is a reputably well-known form of human self-expression. However,a person's firsthand appreciation for this artistic endeavor may bederived in different manners. Often, the person can more easily enjoymusic by listening to the creations of others rather than generating itby himself or herself. For many people, the ability to hear andrecognize an appealing musical composition is innate, while the abilityto manually create a proper collection of notes remains out of reach. Aperson's ability to create new music may be inhibited by the time,money, and/or skill necessary to learn an instrument well-enough toaccurately reproduce a tune at will. For most people, their ownimaginations may be the source of new music, but their ability to hum orchant this same tune limits the extent to which their tunes can beformally retained and recreated for the enjoyment of others.

Recording a session musician's performance can also be a laboriousprocess. Multiple takes of the same material are recorded andpainstakingly scrutinized until a single take can be assembled with allof the imperfections ironed out. A good take often requires a talentedartist under the direction of another to adjust his or her performanceaccordingly. In the case of an amateur recording, the best take is oftenthe result of serendipity and consequently cannot be repeated. Moreoften than not, amateur performers produce takes with both good and badportions. The recording process would be much easier and more fun if asong could be constructed without having to meticulously analyze everyportion of every take. Thus, it is with respect to these considerationsand others that the present invention has been made.

Moreover, the music that a person desires to create may be complex. Forexample, an envisioned tune can have more than one instrument, which maybe played concurrently with other instruments in a potentialarrangement. This complexity further adds to the time, skill, and/ormoney required for a lone person to generate a desired combination ofsounds. The physical configuration of most musical instruments alsorequires a person's full physical attention to manually generate notes,further requiring additional personnel to play the additional parts of adesired tune. Additionally, extra review and management may then benecessary to ensure proper interaction of the various involvedinstruments and elements of a desired tune.

Even for people who already enjoy creating their own music, thoselisteners may lack the type of expertise that enables proper compositionand music creation. As a result, the music created may contain notesthat are not within the same musical key or chord. In most musicalstyles, the presence of off-key or off-chord notes, often referred to as“inharmonious” notes, causes the music to be unpleasing and jarring.Accordingly, because of their lack of experience and training, musiclisteners often create music that sounds undesirable and unprofessional.

For some people, artistic inspiration is not bound by the same time andlocation limitations that are typically associated with the generationand recording of new music. For example, a person may not be in aproduction studio with a playable instrument at hand when an idea for anew tune materializes. After the moment of inspiration passes, theperson may not be able to recall the complete extent of the originaltune, resulting in a loss of artistic effort. Moreover, the person maybecome frustrated with the time and effort applied in recreating no morethan an inferior and incomplete version of his or her initial musicalrevelation.

Professional music composing and editing software tools are currentlygenerally available. However, these tools project an intimidatingbarrier to entry for a novice user. Such complex user interfaces cansoon sap the enthusiasm of any beginner who dares venture their way onan artistic whim. Being tethered to a suite of pro-audio servers alsocramps the style of the mobile creative, wanting to craft a tune on themove.

What is needed is a system and method of music creation that can easilyinterface with a user's most basic ability, yet enable the creation ofmusic that is as complex as the user's imagination and expectations.There is also an associated need to facilitate the creation of musicfree from notes that are inharmonious. In addition, there is a need inthe art for a music authoring system that can generate a musicalcompilation track by aggregating portions of multiple takes based onautomated selection criteria. It is also desirable that such a systemfurther be implemented in a manner that is not limited by the locationof a user when inspiration occurs, thereby enabling capture of the firstutterances of a new musical composition.

There is an associated need in the art for a system and method that cancreate a compilation track from multiple takes by automaticallyevaluating the quality of previously recorded tracks and selecting thebest of the previously recorded tracks, recorded via an electronicauthoring system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described in referenceto the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numeralsrefer to like parts through all the various figures unless otherwisespecified.

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, a reference willbe made to the following detailed description, which is to be read inassociation with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C illustrate several embodiments of a system in whichaspects of the invention may be practiced;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of potential components ofthe audio converter 140 of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a progression for amusical compilation;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of potential components ofthe track partitioner 204 of the system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary frequency spectrum diagram illustrating thefrequency distribution of an audio input having a fundamental frequencyand multiple harmonics;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary pitch versus time plot illustrating the pitch ofa human voice changing between first and second pitches and subsequentlysettling around the second pitch;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary embodiment of a morphology plotted as pitchevents over time, each having a discrete duration;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the content of a data file in oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method forgenerating musical tracks within a continuously looping recordingsession;

FIGS. 10, 10A and 10B together form an illustration of one potentialuser interface for generating musical tracks within a continuouslylooping recording session;

FIG. 11 is an illustration of one potential user interface forcalibrating a recording session;

FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C together illustrate a second potential userinterface associated with the generation of musical tracks within acontinuously looping recording session at three separate periods oftime;

FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C together illustrate one potential use of theuser interface to modify a musical track input into the system using theuser interface of FIG. 12;

FIGS. 14A, 14B and 14C together illustrate one potential user interfacefor creating a rhythm track at three separate periods of time;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of one embodiment of potential components ofthe MTAC module 144 of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating one potential process fordetermining the musical key reflected by one or more notes of audioinput;

FIGS. 17, 17A, and 17B together form a flow diagram illustrating onepotential process for scoring a portion of a musical track based on achord sequence constraint;

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of a process for determining thecentroid of a morphology;

FIG. 19 illustrates step-responses of a harmonic oscillator over timehaving a damped response, an over-damped response, and an under-dampedresponse;

FIG. 20 illustrates a logical flow diagram showing one embodiment forscoring a portion of a musical input;

FIG. 21 illustrates a logical flow diagram for one embodiment of aprocess for composing a “best” track from multiple recorded tracks;

FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment of an exemplary audio waveform and agraphical representation of a score showing the variance of the actualpitch from an ideal pitch;

FIG. 23 illustrates one embodiment of a new track constructed frompartitions of previously recorded tracks;

FIG. 24 illustrates a data flow diagram showing one embodiment of aprocess for harmonizing an accompaniment musical input with a leadmusical input;

FIG. 25 illustrates a data flow diagram of the processes performed bythe Transform Note Module of FIG. 24;

FIG. 26 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a super keyboard;

FIGS. 27A-B illustrate two exemplary embodiments of a chord wheel;

FIG. 28 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a network configurationin which the present invention may be practiced;

FIG. 29 illustrates a block diagram of a device that supports theprocesses discussed herein;

FIG. 30 illustrates one embodiment of a music network device;

FIG. 31 illustrates one potential embodiment of a first interface in agame environment;

FIG. 32 illustrates one potential embodiment of an interface forcreating one or more lead vocal or instrument tracks in the gameenvironment of FIG. 31;

FIG. 33 illustrates one potential embodiment of an interface forcreating one or more percussion tracks in the game environment of FIG.31;

FIGS. 34A-C illustrate potential embodiments of an interface forcreating one or more accompaniment tracks in the game environment ofFIG. 31;

FIG. 35 illustrates one potential embodiment of a graphical interfacethat depicts the chord progression playing as accompaniment of the leadmusic; and

FIG. 36 illustrates one potential embodiment for selecting amongdifferent sections of a musical compilation in the game environment ofFIG. 31

FIGS. 37A and 37B illustrate potential embodiments of a files structureassociated with musical assets that may be utilized in conjunction withthe game environment of FIGS. 31-36.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments bywhich the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.Among other things, the present invention may be embodied as methods ordevices. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of anentirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

DEFINITIONS

Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take themeanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein doesnot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.Furthermore, the phrase “in another embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to a different embodiment, although it may. Thus, asdescribed below, various embodiments of the invention may be readilycombined, without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

In addition, as used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or”operator, and is equivalent to the term “and/or,” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. The term “based on” is not exclusive andallows for being based on additional factors not described, unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout thespecification, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and includes pluralreferences. The meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.”

As used herein the term “musical input,” refers to any signal input thatcontains musical and/or control information transmitted over any of avariety of mediums, including, but not limited to air, microphones,line-in mechanisms, or the like. Musical inputs are not limited tosignal input frequencies which might be heard by a human ear, and mayinclude other frequencies outside of that which may be heard by thehuman ear, or in a form not readily heard by the human ear. Moreover,the use of the term “musical” is not intended to convey an inherentrequirement for a beat, rhythm, or the like. Thus, for example, amusical input, may include various inputs such as a tapping, including asingle tap, clicking, human inputs (such as voice (e.g do, re, mi),percussive inputs (e.g. ka, cha, da-da), or the like) as well asindirect inputs through an instrument or other amplitude and/orfrequency generation mechanism via a transport including, but notlimited to, a microphone input, a Line-In input, a MIDI input, a filehaving signal information useable to convey a musical input, or otherinputs that enable a transported signal to be converted into music.

As used herein, the term “musical key” is a group of musical notes thatare harmonious. Keys are usually major or minor. Musicians frequentlyspeak of a musical composition as being “in the key of” C major, forinstance, which implies a piece of music harmonically centered on thenote C and making use of a major scale whose first note, or tonic, is C.A major scale is an eight note progression consisting of the perfect andmajor semitones (e.g. C D E F G A B or do re mi fa so la ti). Withrespect to a piano, for instance, middle-C (sometimes called “C4”) has afrequency of 261.626 Hz, while D4 is 293.665 Hz; E4 is 329.628 Hz; F4 is349.228 Hz; G4 is 391.995 Hz; A4 is 440.000 Hz; and B4 is 493.883 Hz.While the same notes on other musical instruments will play at the samefrequencies, it is also understood that some instruments naturally playin one key or another.

As used herein, the term “inharmonious note” is a note that is not in acorrect musical key or chord, where the correct musical key and thecorrect chord are the musical key or chord currently being played byanother musician or musical source.

As used herein, the term “blue note” is a note that is not in a correctmusical key or chord, but which is allowed to be played withouttransformation.

As used herein, the term “note of accompaniment musical input” is a noteplayed by an accompanying musician that is associated with a note playedin a corresponding lead melody.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following briefly describes various embodiments in order to providea basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This briefdescription is not intended as an extensive overview. It is not intendedto identify key or critical elements, or to delineate or otherwisenarrow the scope. Its purpose is merely to present some concepts in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

Briefly stated, various embodiments are directed toward generating amulti-track recording by looping through a set of previously recordedaudio tracks and receiving a new audible input for each added audiotrack. In one embodiment, each of the audio tracks in the multi-trackrecording may be generated from an audible vocal input from an end-user.Each new audible input may be provided after the current recording isrepeatedly played back, or looped, one or more times. This recordingsequence, separated by loop periods during which no new track input isreceived may permit a user to listen to the current recordingthoroughly, continuously, and without a time-related pressure of animmediately required additional input. The looped playback, independentfrom a loop in which an additional track is input, may also permit otheractions to be performed, such as modifying a previous track or changingparameters of the recording system.

Further, at least one of the audio tracks in the multi-track recordingmay comprise one or more musical instrument sounds generated based onone or more different sounds provided in the audible input. Variousforms of processing may be performed on the received audible input tocreate the audio track, including aligning and adjusting of the timingof the audible input, frequency recognition and adjustment, convertingthe audible input to a timbre associated with a musical instrument,adding known aural cues associated with the musical instrument, and thelike. Further, each of these processes may be performed in real-time,permitting almost instantaneous playback of a generated audio track andenabling another audible input to be immediately and subsequentlyreceived for processing and overlay as an audio track onto one or morepreviously recorded tracks in a multi-track recording.

In one embodiment, the looped or repeated portion of the multi-trackrecording may comprise a single bar of music. The length of this bar maybe determined by a tempo and a time signature associated with the track.In another embodiment, the number of bars, or looping point for playbackof the multi-track recording, may be dynamic. That is, the repetition ofa first audio track in the multi-track recording may occur at adifferent time than that of a second audio track in the multi-trackrecording. The adjustment of this dynamic looping point, for example,may be automatically determined based on the length of an audible inputfor subsequent tracks.

Various embodiments are also directed toward automatically producing asingle, “best” take that is derived from a collection of takes. In oneembodiment, multiple takes of a performance are recorded during one ormore sessions onto a multi-track recorder. Each take is automaticallypartitioned into segments. The quality of each partition of each of themultiple takes is scored, based on selectable criteria, and a track isautomatically constructed from the best quality segments of each take.In one embodiment, a best segment is defined by the segment having ahighest score from within a plurality of segment scores.

Various embodiments are also further directed toward protecting amusician from playing an inharmonious note. In one embodiment, the notesof an accompaniment musical instrument are received as well as from alead musical instrument. The notes from the accompaniment musicalinstrument are then modified based on the key, chord, and/or timing ofthe lead. In one embodiment, a virtual instrument, where the input keysof the instrument dynamically map onto safe notes, may be provided.Thus, if a player of the virtual instrument is accompanying a melody,the virtual instrument may identify safe notes that comprise notes thatare either for the current chord of the melody being accompanied or inthe musical key of the melody.

Device Architecture

FIG. 1A shows one embodiment of system 100 that may be deployed on avariety of devices 50, which may be, for illustrative purposes, anymulti-purpose computer, hand-held computing device (FIG. 1B) and/ordedicated gaming system (FIG. 1C). Device 50 may include many more orless components than those shown in FIG. 29. However, it should beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that certain componentsare not necessary to operate system 100, while others, such asprocessor, microphone, video display, and audio speaker are important,if not necessary to practice aspects of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 29, device 50 includes a processor 2902, which may be aCPU, in communication with a mass memory 2904 via a bus 2906. As wouldbe understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, processor 2902 couldalso comprise one or more general processors, digital signal processors,other specialized processors and/or ASICs, alone or in combination withone another. Device 50 also includes a power supply 2908, one or morenetwork interfaces 2910, an audio interface 2912, a display driver 2914,a user input handler 2916, an illuminator 2918, an input/outputinterface 2920, an optional haptic interface 2922, and an optionalglobal positioning systems (GPS) receiver 2924. Device 50 may alsoinclude a camera (not shown), enabling video to be acquired and/orassociated with a particular multi-track recording. Video from thecamera, or other source, may also further be provided to an onlinesocial network and/or an online music community. Device 50 may alsooptionally communicate with a base station (not shown), or directly withanother computing device. Other computing device, such as the basestation, may include additional audio-related components, such as aprofessional audio processor, generator, amplifier, speaker, XLRconnectors and/or power supply.

Continuing with FIG. 29, power supply 2908 may comprise a rechargeableor non-rechargeable battery or may be provided by an external powersource, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that couldalso supplement and/or recharge the battery. Network interface 2910includes circuitry for coupling device 50 to one or more networks, andis constructed for use with one or more communication protocols andtechnologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobilecommunication (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), user datagram protocol (UDP), transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), SMS, general packet radioservice (GPRS), WAP, ultra wide band (UWB), IEEE 802.16 WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), SIP/RTP, or any of avariety of other wireless communication protocols. Accordingly, networkinterface 2910 may include as a transceiver, transceiving device, ornetwork interface card (NIC).

Audio interface 2912 (FIG. 29) is arranged to produce and receive audiosignals such as the sound of a human voice. For example, as shown mostclearly in FIGS. 1A and 1B, audio interface 2912 may be coupled to aspeaker 51 and/or microphone 52 to enable music output and input intothe system 100. Display driver 2914 (FIG. 29) is arranged to producevideo signals to drive various types of displays. For example, displaydriver 2914 may drive video monitor display 75, shown in FIG. 1A, whichmay be a liquid crystal, gas plasma, or light emitting diode (LED)based-display, or any other type of display that may be used with acomputing device. As shown in FIG. 1B, display driver 2914 mayalternatively drive a hand-held, touch sensitive screen 80, which wouldalso be arranged to receive input from an object such as a stylus or adigit from a human hand via user input handler 2916 (see FIG. 31).Keypad 55 may comprise any input device (e.g. keyboard, game controller,track-ball and/or mouse) arranged to receive input from a user. Forexample, keypad 55 may include one or more push buttons, numeric dials,and/or keys. Keypad 55 may also include command buttons that areassociated with selecting and sending images.

Device 50 also comprises input/output interface 2920 for communicatingwith external devices, such as a headset, a speaker 51, or other inputor output devices. Input/output interface 2920 may utilize one or morecommunication technologies, such as USB, infrared, Bluetooth™, or thelike. The optional haptic interface 2922 is arranged to provide tactilefeedback to a user of device 50. For example, in an embodiment, such asthat shown in FIG. 1B, where the device 50 is a mobile or handhelddevice, the optional haptic interface 2922 may be employed to vibratethe device in a particular way such as, for example, when another userof a computing device is calling.

Optional GPS transceiver 2924 may determine the physical coordinates ofdevice 100 on the surface of the Earth, which typically outputs alocation as latitude and longitude values. GPS transceiver 2924 can alsoemploy other geo-positioning mechanisms, including, but not limited to,triangulation, assisted GPS (AGPS), E-OTD, CI, SAI, ETA, BSS or thelike, to further determine the physical location of device 50 on thesurface of the Earth. In one embodiment, however, mobile device may,through other components, provide other information that may be employedto determine a physical location of the device, including for example, aMAC address, IP address, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 29, mass memory 2904 includes a RAM 2924, a ROM 2926,and other storage means. Mass memory 2904 illustrates an example ofcomputer readable storage media for storage of information such ascomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Mass memory 2904 stores a basic input/output system (“BIOS”)2928 for controlling low-level operation of device 50. The mass memoryalso stores an operating system 2930 for controlling the operation ofdevice 50. It will be appreciated that this component may include ageneral purpose operating system such as a version of MAC OS, WINDOWS,UNIX, or LINUX, or a specialized operating system such as, for example,Xbox 360 system software, Wii IOS, Windows Mobile™, or the Symbian®operating systems. The operating system may include, or interface with,a Java virtual machine module that enables control of hardwarecomponents and/or operating system operations via Java applicationprograms.

One or more data storage modules 132 may be stored in memory 2904 ofdevice 50. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the present specification, drawings and claims before them, aportion of the information stored in data storage modules 132 may alsobe stored on a disk drive or other storage medium associated with device50. These data storage modules 132 may store multiple track recordings,MIDI files, WAV files, samples of audio data, and a variety of otherdata and/or data formats or input melody data in any of the formatsdiscussed above. Data storage modules 132 may also store informationthat describes various capabilities of system 100, which may be sent toother devices, for instance as part of a header during a communication,upon request or in response to certain events, or the like. Moreover,data storage modules 132 may also be employed to store social networkinginformation including address books, buddy lists, aliases, user profileinformation, or the like.

Device 50 may store and selectively execute a number of differentapplications, including applications for use in accordance with system100. For example, application for use in accordance with system 100 mayinclude Audio Converter Module 140, Recording Session Live Looping(RSLL) Module 142, Multiple Take Auto-Compositor (MTAC) Module 144,Harmonizer Module 146, Track Sharer Module 148, Sound Searcher Module150, Genre Matcher Module 152, and Chord Matcher Module 154. Thefunctions of these applications are described in more detail below.

The applications on device 50 may also include a messenger 134 andbrowser 136. Messenger 132 may be configured to initiate and manage amessaging session using any of a variety of messaging communicationsincluding, but not limited to email, Short Message Service (SMS),Instant Message (IM), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), interne relaychat (IRC), mIRC, RSS feeds, and/or the like. For example, in oneembodiment, messenger 243 may be configured as an IM messagingapplication, such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, .NETMessenger Server, ICQ, or the like. In another embodiment, messenger 132may be a client application that is configured to integrate and employ avariety of messaging protocols. In one embodiment, messenger 132 mayinteract with browser 134 for managing messages. Browser 134 may includevirtually any application configured to receive and display graphics,text, multimedia, and the like, employing virtually any web basedlanguage. In one embodiment, the browser application is enabled toemploy Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), Wireless Markup Language(WML), WMLScript, JavaScript, Standard Generalized Markup Language(SMGL), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensible Markup Language(XML), and the like, to display and send a message. However, any of avariety of other web-based languages may be employed.

Device 50 may also include other applications 138, such as computerexecutable instructions which, when executed by client device 100,transmit, receive, and/or otherwise process messages (e.g., SMS, MMS,IM, email, and/or other messages), audio, video, and enabletelecommunication with another user of another client device. Otherexamples of application programs include calendars, search programs,email clients, IM applications, SMS applications, VoIP applications,contact managers, task managers, transcoders, database programs, wordprocessing programs, security applications, spreadsheet programs, games,search programs, and so forth. Each of the applications described abovemay be embedded or, alternately, downloaded and executed on device 50.

Of course, while the various applications discussed above are shown asbeing implemented on device 50, in alternate embodiments, one or moreportions of each of these applications may be implemented on one or moreremote devices or servers, wherein inputs and outputs of each portionare passed between device 50 and the one or more remote devices orservers over one or more networks. Alternately, one or more of theapplications may be packaged for execution on, or downloaded from aperipheral device.

Audio Converter

Audio converter 140 is configured to receive audio data and convert itto a more meaningful form for use within system 100. One embodiment ofaudio converter 140 is illustrated in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, audioconverter 140 may include a variety of sub-systems including trackrecorder 202, track partitioner 204, quantizer 206, frequency detector208, frequency shifter 210, instrument converter 212, gain control 214,harmonics generator 216, special effects editor 218, and manualadjustment control 220. The connections to and interconnections betweenthe various sub-systems of audio converter 140 are not shown to avoidobscuring the present invention, however, these sub-systems would beelectrically and/or logically connected as would be understood by thoseof ordinary skill in the art having the present specification, drawings,and claims before them.

Track recorder 202 enables a user to record at least one audio trackfrom either vocal or a musical instrument. In one embodiment, the usermay record the track without any accompaniment. However, track recorder202 may also be configured to play audio, either automatically or upon auser's request, comprising a click track, a musical accompaniment, aninitial tone against which a user can judge his/her pitch and timing, oreven previously recorded audio. “Click track” refers to a periodicclicking noise (such as the periodic clicking noise made by a mechanicalmetronome) intended to assist the user to keep a consistent tempo. Trackrecorder 202 may also enable a user to set the length of time torecord—as either a time limit (i.e. a number of minutes and seconds) ora number of musical bars. When used in conjunction with MTAC module 144,as discussed below, track recorder 202 may also be configured tographically indicate a score associated with various portions of arecorded track, so as to indicate, for instance, when a user is off-key,or the like.

In general, a musical compilation is comprised of multiple lyricalsections. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a one typical progression fora pop song that begins with an intro section, followed by alternatingverse and chorus sections, and a bridge section prior to the finalverse. Of course, although not shown, other structures such as refrains,outros, and the like, may also be used. Thus, in one embodiment, trackrecorder 202 may also be configured to enable a user to select thesection of a song for which the recorded audio track is to be used.These sections may then be arranged in any order (either automatically(based on a determination by the genre matcher module 152) or asselected by the end user) to create a complete musical compilation.

Track partitioner 204 divides a recorded audio track into separatepartitions that may then be addressed and potentially stored asindividually addressable separate sound clips or files. The partitionsare preferably chosen so that segments spliced end-to-end result in fewor no audio artifacts. For example, let us assume that an audible inputcomprises the phrase “pum pa pum”. In one embodiment, division of thisaudible input may identify and distinguish each syllable of this audibleinput into separate sounds, such as “pum,” “pa,” and “pum.” However, itshould be understood that this phrase can be delineated in other ways,and a single partition may include more than one syllable or word. Fourpartitions (numbered “1,” “2,” “3,” and “4”) each including more thanone syllable are illustrated on display 75 in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C. Asillustrated, partition “1” has a plurality of notes that may reflect thesame plurality of syllables having been recorded by track recorder 202using input from microphone 52 from a human or musical instrumentsource.

To perform the division of an audible track into separate partitionstrack partitioner 204 may utilize one or more processes running on theprocessor 2902. In one exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, trackpartitioner 204 may include silence detector 402, stop detector 404,and/or manual partitioner 406, each of which may be used to partition anaudio track into N partitions aligned in time. Track partitioner 204 mayuse silence detector 302 to partition a track wherever silence isdetected for a certain period of time. That “silence” may be defined bya volume threshold, such that when the audio volume dips below thedefined threshold for a defined period of time, the location in thetrack is deemed silent. Both the volume threshold and the period of timemay be configurable.

Stop detector 404, on the other hand, may be configured to use speechanalysis, such as formant analysis, to identify vowels and consonants inthe track. For example, consonants such as T, D, P, B, G, K, and nasalsare delimited by stoppages of airflow in their vocalization. Thelocation of certain vowels or consonants may then be used to detect andidentify preferably partitioning points. Similar to silence detector402, the types of vowels and consonants utilized by stop detector 404for identifying partitioning points may be configurable. Manualpartitioner 406 may also be provided to enable a user to manuallydelimit each partition. For example, a user may simply specify a timelength for each partition causing the audio track to be divided intonumerous partitions each of equal length. The user may also be permittedto identify a specific location in the audio track at which a partitionis to be created. The identification may be performed graphically usinga pointing device, such as a mouse or game controller, in conjunctionwith the type of graphical user interface illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B,and 1C. The identification may also be performed by pressing a button orkey on user input device, such as keyboard 55, mouse 54 or gamecontroller 56 during audible playback of the audio track by trackrecorder 202.

Of course, although the functions of silence detector 402, stop detector304, and manual partitioner 406 have been described individually, it iscontemplated that track partitioner 204 may use any combination of thesilence detector, stop detector, and/or manual partitioner to partitionor divide an audio track into segments. It would also be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification,drawings and claims before them that other techniques to partition ordivide an audio track into segments may also be used.

Quantizer 206 is configured to quantize partitions of a received audiotrack, which may utilize one or more processes running on the processor2902. The process of quantization, as the term is used herein, refers tothe time shifting of each previously created partition (and consequentlythe notes contained within the partition), as may be necessary in orderto align the sounds within the partitions with a certain beat.Preferably, quantizer 206 is configured to align the beginning of eachpartition chronologically with a previously determined beat. Forexample, a meter may be provided where each bar may comprise four beatsand alignment of a separate sound may occur relative to quarter-beatincrements of time, thus providing sixteen time points in each four-beatbar to which a partition may be aligned. Of course, any number ofincrements for each bar (such as three beats for a waltz or polkaeffect, two beats for a swing effect, etc.) and beat may be used and, atany time during process, may be adjusted either manually by a user orautomatically based on certain criteria such as a user selection of acertain style or genre of music (e.g. blues, jazz, polka, pop, rock,swing, or waltz).

In one embodiment, each partition may be automatically aligned byquantizer 206 with an available time increment to which it was mostclosely received at the time of recording. That is, if a sound beginsbetween two time increments in the beat, then the playback timing of thesound will be shifted chronologically forward or backward to either oneof these increments to which its initial starting time is closer.Alternately, each sound may be automatically shifted in time to eachtime increment that immediately precedes the relative time in which thesound was initially recorded. In yet another embodiment, each sound maybe automatically shifted in time to each time increment that immediatelyfollows the relative time in which the sound was initially recorded. Atime shift, if any, for each separate sound may also be alternately oradditionally influenced based on a genre selected for the multi-trackrecording, as further discussed below with regards to genre matcher 152.In another embodiment, each sound may also be automatically time alignedwith a previously recorded track in a multi-track recording, enabling akaraoke-type effect. Moreover, the length of a separate sound may begreater than one or more time increments and time shifting of quantizer206 may be controlled to prevent separate sounds from being time shiftedso that they overlap within the same audio track.

Frequency detector 208 is configured to detect and identify the pitchesof the one or more separate sounds that may be contained within eachpartition, which may utilize one or more processes running on theprocessor 2902. In one embodiment, a pitch may be determined byconverting each separate sound to a frequency spectrum. Preferably, thisis accomplished by using a Fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, suchas the FFT implementation by iZotope. However, it should be understoodthat any FFT implementation may be used. It is also contemplated that aDiscrete Fourier Transform (DFT) algorithm may also be used to obtainthe frequency spectrum.

For illustration, FIG. 5 depicts one example of a frequency spectrumthat may be produced by the output of a FFT process performed on aportion of a received audio track. As can be seen, the frequencyspectrum 400 includes one major peak at a single fundamental frequency(F) 502 that corresponds to the pitch, in addition to harmonics that areexcited at 2F, 3F, 4F . . . nF. The additional harmonics are present inthe spectrum because, when an oscillator such as the vocal cord or aviolin string is excited at a single pitch, it typically vibrates atmultiple frequencies.

In some instances, the identification of a pitch may be complicated dueto additional noise. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the frequencyspectrum may include noise that occurs as a result of the audio inputbeing from a real world oscillator such as a voice or instrument, andappears as low amplitude spikes spread across the spectrum. In oneembodiment, this noise may be extracted by filtering the FFT outputbelow a certain noise threshold. Identification of the pitch may also becomplicated in some instances by the presence of vibrato. Vibrato is adeliberate frequency modulation that may be applied to a performance,and is typically between 5.5 Hz and 7.5 Hz. Like with noise, vibrato maybe filtered out of the FFT output by applying a band-pass filter in thefrequency domain, but filtering the vibrato may be undesirable in manysituations.

In addition to the frequency domain approaches discussed above, it iscontemplated that the pitch of one or more sounds in a partition couldalso be determined using one or more time-domain approaches. Forexample, in one embodiment, the pitch may be determined by measuring thedistance between zero crossing points of the signal. Algorithms such asAMDF (average magnitude difference function), ASMDF (Average SquaredMean Difference Function), and other similar autocorrelation algorithmsmay also be used.

For judgments in pitch to be most effective, the pitched content mayalso be grouped into notes (of constant frequency) and glisses (ofsteadily increasing or decreasing frequency). However—unlike instrumentswith frets or keys that naturally produce steady, discrete pitches—thehuman voice tends to slide into notes and wavers in a continuousfashion, making conversion to discrete pitches difficult. Consequently,frequency detector 208 may also preferably utilize pitch impulsedetection to identify shifts or changes in pitch between separate soundswithin a partition.

Pitch impulse detection is one approach of delimiting pitch events thatfocuses on the ballistics of the control loop formed between thesinger's voice and his perception of his voice. Generally, when a singerutters a sound, the singer hears that sound a moment later. If thesinger hears that the pitch is incorrect, he immediately modifies hisvoice toward the intended pitch. This negative feedback loop may bemodeled as damped harmonic motion driven by periodic impulses. Thus, ahuman voice may be considered as a single oscillator: the vocal cord.One example illustration of a pitch changing and settling for a singer'svoice 602 can be seen in FIG. 6. The tension in the vocal cord controlsthe pitch, and this change in pitch may be modeled by the response to astep function, such as step function 604 in FIG. 6. Thus, the start ofthe new pitch event may be determined by finding the start of the dampedharmonic oscillation in pitch; and observing the successive turningpoints of the pitch converging to a steady value.

After the pitch events within a partition of an audio track have beendetermined, they may be converted and/or stored into a morphology, whichis a plot of pitch events over time. One example of a morphology(without partitioning) is depicted in FIG. 7. The morphology maytherefore include information identifying the onset, duration, and pitchof each sound, or any combination or subset of these values. In oneembodiment, the morphology may be in the form of MIDI data, although amorphology may refer to any representation of pitch over time, and isnot limited to semitones or any particular meter. For instance, othersuch examples of morphologies that may be used are described in“Morphological Metrics” by Larry Polansky, Journal of New MusicResearch, volume 25, pp. 289-368, ISSN: 09929-8215, which isincorporated herein by reference.

Frequency shifter 210 may be configured to shift the frequency of theaudible input, which may utilize one or more processes running on theprocessor 2902. For example, the frequency of one or more sounds withina partition of an audible input may be automatically raised or loweredin order to align with fundamental frequency of audible inputs orseparate sounds that have been previously recorded. In one embodiment,the determination of whether to raise or lower the frequency of theaudible input depends upon the closest fundamental frequency. In otherwords, assuming the composition was in the key of C major, if theaudible frequency captured by track recorder 202 is 270.000 Hz frequencyshifter 210 would shift the note down to 261.626 Hz (middle-C), whereasif the audible frequency captured by the track recorder 202 is 280.000Hz frequency shifter 210 would shift the note up 293.665 Hz (or the Dabove middle-C). Even when the frequency shifter 210 primarily adjustsaudible input to the closest fundamental frequency, the shifter 210 mayalso be further programmed to make different decisions on close calls(i.e. where the audible frequency is approximately half-way between twonotes) based on the musical key, genre and/or chord. In one embodiment,the frequency shifter 210 may adjust audible inputs to other fundamentalfrequencies that make more musical sense based on the musical key, genreand/or chord based on controls provided by the genre matcher 260 and/orchord matcher 270, as further discussed below. Alternately oradditionally the frequency shifter 210—in response to input from theinstrument converter 212—may also individually shift one or moreportions of one or more partitions to correspond with a predeterminedset of frequencies or semitones such as those typically associated witha selected musical instrument, such as a piano, guitar or other stringedinstrument, woodwind, or brass.

Instrument converter 212 may be configured to perform conversion of oneor more portions of the audible input into one or more sounds that havea timbre associated with a musical instrument. For example, one or moresounds in an audible input may be converted into one or more instrumentsounds of one or more different types of percussion instruments,including a snare drum, cowbell, bass drum, triangle, and the like. Inone embodiment, the conversion of an audible input into one or morecorresponding percussion instrument sounds may comprise adapting thetiming and amplitude of one or more sounds in the audible input into acorresponding track comprising one or more sounds of the percussioninstrument, the percussion instrument sound comprising a same or similartiming and amplitude as the one or more audible input sounds. For otherinstruments enabled to play different notes, such as a trombone or othertypes of brass, string, woodwind instrument or the like, the instrumentconversion may further correlate one or more frequencies of audibleinput sounds with one or more sounds with the same or similarfrequencies played by the instrument. Further, each conversion may bederived and/or limited by the physical capabilities of actually playingthe corresponding physical instrument. For example, the frequencies ofinstrument sounds generated for an alto saxophone track may be limitedby the actual frequency range of a traditional alto saxophone. In oneembodiment, the generated audio track may comprise a MIDI formattedrepresentation of the converted audible input. The data for the variousinstruments used by instrument converter 212 would preferably be storedin memory 2904 and may be downloaded from optical or magnetic media,removable memory, or via the network.

Gain control 214 may be configured to automatically adjust the relativevolume of the audible input based on the volume of other, previouslyrecorded tracks and may utilize one or more processes running on theprocessor 2902. Harmonics generator 216, may be configured toincorporate harmonics into the audio track, which may utilize one ormore processes running on the processor 2902. For example, different,additional frequencies of the audible input signal may be determined andadded to the generated audio track. Determining the additionalfrequencies may be also based on a genre from genre matcher 260 orthrough the use of other, predetermined parameter settings input by auser. For instance, if the selected genre were a waltz the additionalfrequencies may be selected from major chords harmonious to the leadmusic in the octave immediately below the lead, in ¾'s time with an“oom-pa-pa” beat, as follows:

${{root}\mspace{14mu}\begin{matrix}5 \\3\end{matrix}\begin{matrix}5 \\3\end{matrix}},{{root}\mspace{14mu}\begin{matrix}5 \\3\end{matrix}{\begin{matrix}5 \\3\end{matrix}.}}$Special effects editor 218 may be configured to add various effects tothe audio track, such as an echo, reverberation, and the like preferablyutilizing one or more processes running on the processor 2902.

Audio Converter 140 may also include a manual adjustment control 220 toenable a user to manually alter any of the settings automaticallyconfigured by the modules discussed above. For instance, manualadjustment control 220 may enable a user to alter the frequency of anaudio input, or portions thereof; enable a user to alter the onset andduration of each separate sound; increase or decrease the gain for anaudio track; select a different instrument to be applied to instrumentconverter 212, among other options. As would be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art having the present specification, drawings andclaims before them, this manual adjustment control 220 may be designedfor use with one or more graphical user interfaces. One particulargraphical user interface will be discussed below in association withFIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C below.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a file structure for a partition ofan audio track that has been processed by audio converter 140, orotherwise downloaded, ingested, or obtained from another source. Asshown, in this embodiment, the file includes metadata associated withthe file, the obtained morphology data (e.g. in MIDI format), and theraw audio (e.g. in wav format). The metadata may include informationindicating a profile associated with the creator or supplier of theaudio track partition. It may also include additional informationregarding the audio signature of the data, such as a key, tempo, andpartitions associated with the audio. The metadata may also includeinformation regarding the potential available pitch shifts that can beapplied to each note in the partition, the amount of time shifting thatcan be applied to each note, and the like. For example, it is understoodthat, for live recorded audio, there is a possibility of distortion if apitch is shifted by more than a semitone. Accordingly, in oneembodiment, a constraint may be placed on live audio to prevent shiftingmore than one semitone. Of course, different settings and differentconstraints may also be used. In another embodiment, ranges forpotential pitch shifting, time shifting, etc. may also be altered orestablished by a creator of an audio track partition, or any individualwith substantial rights in that audio track partition, such as anadministrator, a collaborating party, and the like.

Recording Session Live Looping

Recording Session Live Looping (RSLL) Module 142 implements a digitalaudio workstation that, in conjunction with audio converter 140, enablesrecording of audible input, generation of separate audio tracks, and thecreation of multi-track recordings. Thus, RSLL Module 142 may enable anyrecorded audio tracks, either spoken, chanted, or otherwise, to becombined with previously recorded tracks to create a multi-trackrecording. As further discussed below, RSLL Module 142 is alsopreferably configured to loop at least one bar of a previously recordedmulti-track recording for repeated playback. This repeated playback maybe executed while new audible inputs are being recorded or the RSLLModule 142 is otherwise receiving instructions for a recording sessioncurrently being conducted. As a result, RSLL module 142 allows a user tocontinue editing and composing musical tracks while playing andlistening to previously recorded tracks. As will be understood from thediscussion below, the continuous looping of previously recorded tracksalso minimizes the user's perception of any latency that may result fromthe processes that are applied to an audio track that is being currentlyrecorded by the user, as such processes are preferably completed.

FIG. 9 illustrates a logical flow diagram generally showing oneembodiment of an overview process for creating a multi-track recordingusing RSLL Module 142 in conjunction with audio converter 140. Overall,the operations of FIG. 9 generally represent a recording session. Such asession may be newly created and completed each time a user employssystem 100, and, for example, RSLL Module 142. Alternately, a previoussession may be continued and certain elements thereof, such as apreviously recorded multi-track recording or other user-specifiedrecording parameters, may also be loaded and applied.

In either arrangement, process 900 begins, after a start block, atdecision block 910, where a user determines whether a currently recordedmulti-track recording is to be played back. The process of playing backthe current multi-track recording, while enabling other actions to beperformed, is generally referred to herein as “live looping.” Thecontent and duration of a portion of the multi-track recording currentlybeing played back, without explicit repetition, is referred to as a“live loop.” During playback, the multi-track recording may beaccompanied by a click track, which generally comprises a separate audiotrack, not stored with the multi-track recording, that provides a seriesof equally spaced reference sounds or clicks that audibly indicate aspeed and measure for a track for which the system is currentlyconfigured to record.

In an initial execution of process 900, an audio track may not yet havebeen generated. In such a state, playback of the empty multi-trackrecording in block 910 may be simulated and the click track may providethe only sounds played back to a user. However, in one embodiment, auser may select to mute the click track, as further discussed below withrespect to block 964. Visual cues may be provided to the user duringrecording in conjunction with audio playback. Even when an audio trackhas not been recorded, and the click track is muted, indication ofsimulated playback and current playback position may be limited solelyto those visual cues, which may include, for example, a changing displayof a progress bar, pointer, or some other graphical indication (sec,e.g., FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C).

The live looped multi-track recording played back in decision block 910may comprise one or more audio tracks that have been previouslyrecorded. The multi-track recording may include an overall length aswell as a length which is played back as a live loop. The length of alive loop may be selected to be less than the overall length of amulti-track recording, permitting a user to separately layer differentbars of the multi-track recording. The length of a live loop, relativeto the overall length of a multi-track recording, may be manuallyselected by a user or, alternately, automatically determined based onreceived audible input. In at least one embodiment, the overall lengthof the multi-track recording and the live loop may be the same. Forexample, the length of the live loop and the multi-track recording maybe a single bar of music.

When the multi-track recording is selected for playback at decisionblock 910, additional visual cues, such as a visual representation ofthe one or more tracks, may be provided in synch with the audio playbackof a live loop comprising at least a portion of the multi-trackrecording played back for the user. While the multi-track recording isplayed, process 900 continues at decision block 920 where adetermination is made by an end-user whether an audio track for themulti-track recording is to be generated. The recording may be initiatedbased on the receipt of an audible input, such as a vocal audible inputgenerated by an end-user. In one embodiment, a detected amplitude of anaudible input may trigger the sampling and storage of an audible inputsignal received in system 100. In an alternate embodiment, such a trackgeneration may be initialized by a manual input received by system 100.Further, generating a new audio track may require both a detectedaudible input, such as from a microphone, and a manual indication. If anew audio track is to be generated, processing continues at block 922.If the generation of an audio track is not initiated, process 900continues at decision block 940.

At block 922, an audible input is received by the track recorder 202 ofaudio converter 140 and the audible input is stored in memory 2904 inone or more data storage modules 132. As used herein, “audible” refersto a property of an input to device 50 wherein, as the input is beingprovided, it may concurrently, naturally, and directly be heard by atleast one user without amplification or other electronic processing. Inone embodiment, the length of the recorded audible input may bedetermined based on the remaining amount of time within a live loop whenthe audible input is first received. That is, the recording of anaudible input may be ended after a length of time at the end of a liveloop, regardless if a detectable amount of audible input is still beingreceived. For example, if the length of the loop is one bar long at fourbeats per bar and receipt of the audible input is first detected ortriggered at the beginning of the second beat, then three beats worth ofaudible input may be recorded, corresponding to the second, third, andfourth beats of the bar and, thus, those second, third, and fourth beatswould be looped in the multi-track recording playback continuallyprocessed in block 910. In such an arrangement, any audible inputreceived after the end of the single bar may be recorded and processedas a basis for another separate track for the multi-track recording.Such additional processing of the separate track may be represented as aseparate iteration through at least blocks 910, 920, and 922.

In at least one alternate embodiment, the length of the looped playbackmay be dynamically adjusted based on the length of audible inputreceived at block 922. That is, the audible input might automaticallyresult in an extension of the length of the track of the multi-trackrecording that is currently being played in block 910. For example, ifadditional audible input is received after a length of a current liveloop has been played back, then this longer audible input may be furtherrecorded and maintained for derivation as the new audio track. In suchan arrangement, previous tracks of the multi-track recording may berepeated within subsequent live loops in order to match the length ofthe received audible input. In one embodiment, the repetition of theshorter, previous multi-track recording may be performed an integralnumber of times. This integral number of repetitions retains therelationship, if any, between multiple bars of the shorter multi-trackrecording previously recorded. In such a way, the looping point of amulti-track recording and live loop may be dynamically altered.

Similarly, the length of the received track at block 922 may be shorterthan the length of the currently playing live loop (i.e. receiving onlyone bar of audible input during the playback of a four bar long liveloop). In such an arrangement, the end of the audible input may bedetected when no additional audible input has been received after apredetermined time (e.g. a selected number of seconds) following thereceipt and recording of an audible input of at least a thresholdvolume. In one embodiment, the detection of this silence may be based onthe lack of input above the threshold volume of the current live loop.Alternately or additionally, the end of an audible input may be signaledby receipt of a manual signal. The associated length of this shorteraudible input may be determined in terms of a number of bars with a samenumber of beats as the multi-track recording. In one embodiment, thisnumber of bars is selected as a factor of the length of the current liveloop. In each case, an audible input, once converted to a track at block924, may be manually or automatically selected for repetition for anumber of times sufficient to match a length of the multi-trackrecording currently being played back.

In block 924, the received audible input may be converted into an audiotrack by audio converter 140. As discussed above, the audio conversionprocess may include various operations including partitioning,quantization, frequency detection and shifting, instrument conversion,gain control, harmonics generation, adding special effects, and manualadjustment. The order of each of these audio conversion operations maybe altered, and may, in at least one embodiment, be configured by anend-user. Also, each of these operations may be selectively applied,enabling the audible input to be converted to an audio track with asmuch or as minimal additional processing as required. For example,instrument conversion may not be selected, thus permitting one or moreoriginal sounds from an audible input to be substantially included inthe generated audio track with its original timbre. In block 924, anecho cancellation process may be applied to filter out the audio ofother tracks being played during live looping from the audio track beingactively recorded. In one embodiment, this may be accomplished byidentifying the audio signal being played during the live loop,determining any delay between the output audio signal and the inputaudio signal; filtering and delaying the output audio signal to resemblethe input audio signal; and subtracting the output audio signal from theinput audio signal. One preferred echo cancellation process that may beused is one implemented by iZotope, although other implementations mayalso be used. The processes of block 924 may be subsequently applied orremoved as further discussed herein with respect to block 942. Afterconverting the audible input into a generated audio track at block 924,process 900 continues at block 926.

At block 926, the generated audio track from block 924 may be added inreal-time to a multi-track recording. This may be a multi-track alreadyinitiated or, alternately, a new multi-track with the audio trackincluded as the first track thereof. After block 926, process 900 maybegin again at decision block 910, wherein the multi-track may be playedback with the most recently generated audio track included. While theoperations of 922, 924, and 926 are shown as being performed in seriesin FIG. 9, these steps may also be performed in parallel for eachreceived audible input, in order to further enable the real-timerecording and playback of an audible input signal. During each audibleinput, such parallel processing may be performed, for example, for eachseparate sound identified from the audible input, though alternateembodiments may include other, differently sized portions of the audibleinput signal.

At decision block 940, a determination is made whether one or more audiotracks in the multi-track recording are to be modified. For example, aninput may be received that indicates an end-user desires to modify oneor more of the previously recorded audio tracks. In one embodiment, theindication may be received through a manual input. As noted above, thismodification may also be performed during playback of the currentlyrecorded multi-track recording, permitting immediate appreciation of acurrent state of the multi-track recording for the end-user. In oneembodiment, the indication may include one or more tracks of themulti-track recording to which an adjustment is desired to be applied.These tracks may also include one or more new tracks manually added tothe multi-track recording. If indication of a track modification isreceived, process 900 continues at block 942; otherwise, process 900continues at decision block 960.

At block 942, the parameters of the one or more previously convertedtracks are received and adjusted parameters may be input by an end-user.Parameters for modification may include any adjustments that can be doneusing the processes of audio converter 140, which may include amongother examples, muting or soloing a track, removal of an entire track,adjusting the strike velocity of an instrument in a track, adjusting thevolume level of a track, adjusting a tempo of playback of all tracks inthe live loop, adding or removing separate sounds from selected timeincrements of a track, adjusting the length of a live loop and/oroverall length of the multi-track recording. Adjusting the length of thelive loop may comprise altering start and end points of the loop withrespect to the overall multi-track recording and/or may also compriseadding more bars to the tracks currently being repeated in a live loop,adding and/or appending previously recorded bars of the multi-trackrecording with at least a subset of the tracks previously associatedwith these bars, or deleting bars from the multi-track recording. Theaddition of a new track may require various aspects of this new track tobe manually input by an end-user. Also at block 942, a search may beconducted for an additional track through the use of sound searchermodule 150 to facilitate an end-user's reuse of previously recordedaudio tracks.

At block 944, the adjusted parameters are applied to one or more tracksindicated at decision block 940. The application may include convertingthe adjusted parameter into a format compatible with the adjusted one ormore tracks. For example, one or more numerical parameters may beadjusted to correspond to one or more values applicable to the MIDI orother protocol format. After block 944, process 900 may begin again atdecision block 910, wherein at least a portion of the multi-trackrecording that corresponds to the live loop may be played back with theone or more modified audio tracks included.

At decision block 960, a determination is made whether a recording setupis to be modified. For example, an input may be received that indicatesif a user desires to modify one or more aspects of the recording setup.This indication may also be received through a manual input. Theindication may further one or more parameter settings of a recordingsetup that are to be adjusted. If the end user desires to modify therecording setup process 900 continues at block 962; otherwise, process900 continues at decision block 980.

At block 962, the recording system may be calibrated. Particularly, therecording circuit, comprising at least an audio input source, audiooutput source, and audio track processing components, may be calibratedto determine latency of system 100 in conjunction with device 50,preferably measured in thousandths of a second, between a playback of asound through the audio output source and receipt of an audible inputthrough the audio input source. For example, if a recording circuitcomprises a headset and a microphone, the latency may be determined bythe RSLL 142 to improve receipt and conversion of an audible input,particularly a determination of a relative timing between beats of amulti-track recording being played back and a received audible input.After calibration at block 962, if any, process 900 continues to block964.

At block 964, other recording system parameters settings may be changed.For example, playback of the click track may be turned on or off. Also,default settings for new tracks or new multi-track recordings may bemodified, such as a default tempo and a default set of conversions foran audible input for block 924 may be provided. The time signature of acurrent multi-track recording may also be changed at block 964. Othersettings associated with a digital audio workstation may also beprovided so they may be modified by an end-user as would be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification,drawings and claims before them. After block 964, process 900 may returnto decision block 910, wherein adjustments to the recording system maybe applied to the subsequent recording and modification of audio tracksfor a multi-track recording.

At block 980, a determination is made whether the recording session isto be ended. For example, an input indicating the end of the session maybe received from a manual input. Alternately, device 50 may indicate theend of the session if, for example, data storage 132 is full. If anend-of-session indication is received, the multi-track recording may bestored and/or transmitted for additional operations. For example, amulti-track recording may be stored in data storage 132 for futureretrieval, review, and modification in a new session or a continuationof the session in which the multi-track recording was initially created.The multi-track recording may also be transmitted from a device 50 toanother device 50 over a network for storage in at least one remote datastore associated with a user account. A transmitted multi-trackrecording may also be shared through a network server with an onlinemusic community or shared in a game hosted by a network server.

If the recording session is not ended, process 900 returns again todecision block 910. Such a sequence of events may represent periods inwhich a user is listening to a live loop while deciding which, if any,additional tracks are to be generated or other modifications, if any,are to be performed. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill inthe art having the present specification, drawings and claims beforethem that each block of the flowchart illustration in FIG. 9 (andotherwise), and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustration,can be implemented by computer program instructions. These programinstructions may be provided to a processor to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute on the processor, create means forimplementing the actions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. Thecomputer program instructions may be executed by a processor to cause aseries of operational steps to be performed by the processor to producea computer implemented process such that the instructions, which executeon the processor to provide steps for implementing the actions specifiedin the flowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions mayalso cause at least some of the operational steps shown in the blocks ofthe flowchart to be performed in parallel. Moreover, some of the stepsmay also be performed across more than one processor, such as mightarise in a multi-processor computer system. In addition, one or moreblocks or combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustration may alsobe performed concurrently with other blocks or combinations of blocks,or even in a different sequence than illustrated without departing fromthe scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, blocks of theflowchart illustration support combinations of means for performing thespecified actions, combinations of steps for performing the specifiedactions and program instruction means for performing the specifiedactions. It will also be understood that each block of the flowchartillustration, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustration,can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems, whichperform the specified actions or steps, or combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

The operation of certain aspects of the invention will now be describedwith respect to various screen displays that may be associated with auser interface implementing audio converter 140 and RSSL module 142. Theillustrated embodiments are non-limiting, non-exhaustive example userinterfaces that may be employed in association with the operations ofsystem 100. The various screen displays may include many more or lesscomponents than those shown. Furthermore, the arrangement of thecomponents are not limited to that shown in these displays, and otherarrangements are also envisioned, including the disposition of variouscomponents on different interfaces. However, the components shown aresufficient to disclose an illustrative embodiment for practicing thepresent invention.

FIGS. 10, 10A, and 10B together illustrate one user interface thatimplements RSLL 142 and aspects of audio converter 140 to record andmodify tracks of a multi-track recording. The overall display ofinterface 1000 may be considered a “control space”. Each controldisplayed on interface may be operated based on a manual input from auser, such as through the use of a mouse 54, touch screen 80, pressurepad, or device arranged to respond to and convey a physical control. Asshown, interface 1000 displays various aspects of a recording sessionand a multi-track recording generated as a part of this session. Filemenu 1010 includes options for creating a new multi-track recording orloading a previously recorded multi-track recording, as would beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them.

Tempo control 1012 displays a tempo of the multi-track recording inbeats per minute. Tempo control 1012 may be directly, manually modifiedby a user. Bar control 1014 displays a bar number for a multi-trackrecording. Bar control 1014 may be configured to display a current barnumber during a live loop, an overall number of bars, or alternately beused to select a certain bar number of the multi-track recording forfurther display in the interface 1000.

Beat control 1016 displays a beat number for a multi-track recording.Beat control 1016 may be configured to display a total number of beatsfor each bar, or, alternately, a current beat number during playback ofthe multi-track recording. Time control 1018 displays a time for themulti-track recording. This time control 1018 may be configured todisplay an overall time for the multi-track recording, a length of timefor a currently selected live loop, an absolute or relative time duringa live loop, or be used to jump to a certain absolute time of amulti-track recording. Operations of controls of interface 1000, such ascontrols 1012, 1014, 1016, 1018, and 1021-1026, may be changed in block964 of FIG. 9. Controls 1020 correspond to track and recording setupadjustments further discussed with respect to blocks 942 and 962 of FIG.9.

Add track control 1021 enables a user to manually add a track to amulti-track recording. Upon selection of control 1021, a new track isadded to the multi-track recording and the interface is updated toinclude additional controls 1040-1054 for the added track, theoperations of which are discussed as follows. Render WAV control 1022generates and stores a WAV file from at least a portion of a multi-trackrecording. The portions of the multi-track recording rendered in thisWAV file, as well as other storage parameters, may be further entered bya user upon selection of Render WAV control 1022. Further, other audiofile formats, in addition to WAV, may also be available through acontrol such as control 1022.

Click track control 1023 toggles playback of the click track. Armedcontrol 1024 toggles on and off the recording component of RSLL 142 anda device's ability to record an audible input. Armed control 1024enables an end user to speak with other users, practice a vocal input,and create other audible sounds during a recording session withouthaving those sounds converted into an audible input that is furtherprocessed by RSLL 142.

Circuit parameters control 1025 enables a user calibrate recordingcircuit parameters as is further discussed with regards to FIG. 11.Slider 1026 enables the volume of the multi-track recording playback tobe controlled. Playback control 1030 enables playback of a multi-trackrecording. This playback is conducted in coordination with recordingparameters further displayed and controlled through controls 1012-1018.For example, playback control 1030 may initiate playback of multi-trackrecording from positions indicated via controls 1014-1018 and at a tempodisplayed in control 1012. As noted above, this control 1030 alsoenables recording of an additional audible input for generating anotheraudio track for a multi-track recording. Position control 1032 may alsobe used to control a current playback position of a multi-trackrecording. For example, control 1032 may cause playback to be initiatedat the absolute beginning of multi-track recording or, alternately, thebeginning of a current live loop.

Grid 1050 on user interface 1000 represents the playback and timing ofseparate sounds within one or more tracks of a multi-track recording,wherein each row represents an individual track and each columnrepresents a time increment. Each row may, for example, include a boxfor each time increment in a single bar. Alternately, each row mayinclude enough boxes to represent time increments for an overallduration of a live loop. Boxes with a first shading or color in the grid1050, such as box 1052, may represent a relative timing of where a soundis played back during a live loop, while other boxes, such as boxes1054, each indicate a time increment within a track where a separatesound is not played back. A track added via manual control 1021initially includes boxes such as box 1054. Selection of a box, such as abox 1052 or box 1054 may add or remove a sound from the track at thetime increment associated with the selected box. Sounds added via manualinput to a box in grid 1050 may comprise a default sound for aninstrument selected for the track, or alternately, a copy of at leastone sound quantized from an audible input for a track. This manualoperation with grid 1050 enables an audible input to generate one ormore sounds for a track, yet add copies of one or more of these soundsat manually chosen locations within the track.

A progress bar 1056 visually indicates a time increment of a currentplayback position of a multi-track recording. Each track in grid 1050 isassociated with a set of track controls 1040, 1042, 1044, 1046, and1048. Remove track control 1040 enables removal of a track frommulti-track recording and may be configured to selectively remove atrack from one or more bars of a multi-track recording.

Instrument selection control 1042 enables selection of an instrument towhich sounds of an audible input are converted in the generated audiotrack. As illustrated in FIG. 10A, a plurality of instruments, includingpercussion or other types of non-percussion instruments, may be manuallyselected from a drop down menu. Alternatively, a default instrument or adefault progression of instruments may be automatically selected orpredetermined for each given audio track. When no instrument isselected, each sound in a generated audio track may substantiallycorrespond to sounds of the original audible input, including with atimbre of the initial audible input. In one embodiment, an instrumentmay be selected based on training RSLL 142 to automatically convertparticular sounds in an audible into associated instrument sounds basedon, for example, a classification of frequency bands of each particularsound.

Mute/Solo control 1044 mutes an associated track or mutes all othertracks except for the track associated with the control 1044. Velocitycontrol 1046 enables adjustment of an initial attack or strike strengthof instrument sounds generated for a converted audio track, which mayinfluence the peak, duration, release, and overall amplitude shape ofeach instrument sound generated for the associated audio track. Suchvelocity may be manually entered or, alternately, extracted based onproperties of the audible input sounds from which one or more instrumentsounds are generated. Volume control 1048 enables individual control ofthe playback volume of each track in the multi-track recording.

FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of an interface 1100 for calibratinga recording circuit. Interface 1100 may represent one example of ascreen display pop-up, or the like, that may appear when control 1025(see FIG. 10A) is selected. In one embodiment, interface 1100 comprisesa microphone gain control 1110 that enables adjustment of the amplitudeof a received audible input. Upper control 1120 and lower control 1130and half-life control 1140 provide additional control and validation foridentifying a received signal as being an audible input for furtherprocessing by system 100. Calibrate circuit initiates a predeterminedclick track and may direct a user to replicate the click track in anaudible input signal. In an alternate embodiment, the click track forcalibration may be directly received as an audible input by audio inputdevices such as a microphone, without requiring a user to audiblyreplicate the click track. Based on relative timing differences betweenthe generation of sounds in the click track and the receipt of sounds inthe audible input, a system latency 1160 may be determined. This latencyvalue may be further employed by RSLL 142 to improve quantization of anaudible input and the detected relative timing between the playback of amulti-track recording and an audible input received for subsequentderivation of an additional audio track to be added to the multi-trackrecording.

Thus, as illustrated, interfaces 1000 and 1100 present users with acontrol space that is welcoming and non-threatening, powerful, andconsistent, yet intuitive to learn, which is particularly important fora lay user who is not a professional musician or otherwise familiar withdigital audio authoring tools.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C together illustrate yet another exemplary visualdisplay that may be used in association with the recording andmodification of audio tracks in a multi-track recording. In thisexample, the audio frequency (actual and morphological (post frequencyshift by frequency shifter 210)), partition, quantization, and tempoinformation are provided graphically in order to provide the user withan even more intuitive experience. For instance, turning first to FIG.12A, a graphical control space 1200 for a live loop is provided. Thecontrol space includes a plurality of partition indicators 1204 thatidentify each of the partitions (or musical measures) in the track (inthe case of FIGS. 12A-C measures 1 through 4 are shown). In oneembodiment of the graphical user interface illustrated in FIGS. 12A-C,vertical lines 1206 illustrate the beat within each measure, with thenumber of vertical lines per measure preferably corresponding to the topnumber of a time signature. For example if a musical composition ischosen to be composed using a ¾ time signature, each measure wouldinclude three vertical lines to indicate that there are three beats inthe measure or partition. In the same embodiment of the user interfaceillustrated in FIGS. 12A-C, horizontal lines 1208 may also identify thefundamental frequencies associated with a selected instrument to whichthe audible input is to be converted. As further illustrated in theembodiment of FIGS. 12A-C, an instrument icon 1210 may also be providedto indicate the selected instrument, such as the guitar selected inFIGS. 12A-C.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 12A-C, solid line 1212 representsthe audio waveform of one track as recorded by an end-user, eithervocally or using a musical instrument; while the plurality of horizontalbars 1214 represent the morphology of the notes that have been generatedfrom the audio waveform by quantizer 206 and frequency shifter 210 ofaudio converter 140. As depicted, each note of the generated morphologyhas been shifted in time to align with the beats of each partition andshifted in frequency to correspond to one of the fundamental frequenciesof the selected instrument.

As depicted by comparing FIG. 12A to FIG. 12B to FIG. 12C, playback bar1216 may also be provided to identify the specific part of the live loopthat is currently being played by track recorder 202 pursuant to theprocess of FIG. 9. The playback bar 1216 therefore moves from left toright as the live loop is played. Upon reaching the end of the fourthmeasure, the playback bar returns to the beginning of measure one andrepeats the loop again sequentially. The end-user may provide additionalaudio input at any point within the live loop by recording additionalaudio at the appropriate point in the loop. Although not shown in FIGS.12A-C, each additional recording can be used to provide a new track (orset of notes) for depiction within the live loop. Separate tracks may beassociated with a different instruments by adding additional instrumenticons 1210.

FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C together illustrate one example of a process formanually altering a previously generated note via the interface of FIGS.12A-C. As shown in FIG. 13A, an end-user can select one specific note1302 using a pointer 1304. As shown in FIG. 13B, the end-user may thendrag the note vertically to another horizontal line 1208 to alter thepitch of the dragged note. In this example, the note 1302 is shown asbeing moved to a higher fundamental frequency. It is contemplated thatnotes could also be moved to frequencies between fundamental frequenciesof the instrument. As shown in FIG. 13C, the timing of a note can alsobe altered by selecting the end of the morphologic depiction of the noteand then dragging it horizontally. In FIG. 13C, the duration of note1304 has been lengthened. As also depicted in FIG. 13C, the result oflengthening note 1304, is the automatic shortening of note 1306 byquantizer 206 to maintain the beat and avoid overlapping notes beingplayed by a single instrument. As would be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art having the present specification, drawings andclaims before them, the same or similar methodology can be used toshorten the duration of a selected note resulting in the automaticlengthening of another adjacent note and further that the duration of anote can be changed from the beginning of the morphologic depiction inthe same manner illustrated with respect to modifying the tail of thatdepiction. It should also be similarly understood by those of ordinaryskill in the art that the same methodology may be used to delete notesfrom a track or copy notes for insertion at other parts of the track.

FIGS. 14A, 14B, and 14C illustrate yet another exemplary visual displayfor use with system 100. In this example, the visual display enables auser to record and modify a multi-track recording associated withpercussion instruments. Turning first to FIG. 14A, a control space 1400includes a grid 1402 that represents the playback and timing of separatesounds within one or more percussion tracks. As in the illustration ofFIGS. 12A-C, partitions 1-4, each having four beats are depicted in theexample of FIG. 14A-C. For example, in FIG. 14A, the first row of grid1402 represents the playback and timing of sounds associated with afirst base drum, the second row of grid 1402 represents the playback andtiming of sounds associated with a snare drum, the third and fourth rowsof grid 1402 represents the playback and timing of sounds associatedwith cymbals, and the fifth row of grid 1402 represents the playback andtiming of sounds associated with a floor tom. As would be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification,drawings and claims before them, these particularly percussioninstruments and their order on grid 1402 is meant only to illustrate theconcept and should not be seen as limiting the concept to thisparticular example.

Each box in the grid represents the timing increments for soundsassociated with the related percussion instrument, where an unshaded boxindicates that no sound is to be played at that time increment, and ashaded box indicates that a sound (associated with the timbre of therelated percussion instrument) is to be played at that time increment.Thus, FIG. 14A illustrates an example where no sounds are to be played,FIG. 14B illustrates an example where the sound of a base drum are to beplayed at the times indicated by the shaded boxes, and FIG. 14Cillustrates an example where the sounds of a base drum and a symbol areto be played at the times indicated by the shaded boxes. For eachpercussion instrument track, a sound associated with the particularpercussion instrument may be added to the track for instrument invarious ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 14B or 14C, a playback bar1404 may be provided to visually indicate a time increment of a currentplayback position of a multi-track recording during live looping. Thus,in FIG. 14B, the playback bar indicates that the first beat of the thirdmeasure is currently being played. A user may then be enabled to add asound associated with a particular percussion instrument at a particularbeat by recording a sound at the time that the playback bar 1404 is overthe box associated with a particular beat. In one embodiment, theinstrument track to which the sound is to be associated with may beidentified manually by the user selecting or clicking on the appropriateinstrument. In this case, the particular nature and pitch of the soundmade by the user may not be important, although it is contemplated thatthe volume of the sound made by the user may affect the gain of theassociated sound generated for the percussion track. Alternatively, thesound made by a user may be indicative of the percussion instrument thatthe sound is to be associated with. For example, a user may vocalize thesounds “boom”, “tsk” or “ka” to indicate a base drum, symbol, or tomdrum beat, respectively. In yet another embodiment, the user may beenabled to add or remove sounds from a track simply by clicking orselecting a box in the grid 1402.

Multiple Take-Auto Composition Module

MTAC Module 144 (FIG. 1A) is configured to operate in conjunction withaudio converter 140, and optionally RSLL 142, to enable the automaticproduction of single, “best” take that is derived from a collection oftakes. One embodiment of MTAC Module 144 is illustrated in FIG. 15. Inthis embodiment, MTAC Module 144 includes a Partition Scorer 1702 toscore partitions from each take of recorded audio and a Compositor 1704to assemble the single, “best” take based on the scores identified byPartition Scorer 1702.

Partition scorer 1702 may be configured to score partitions based on anyone or more criteria, which may utilize one or more processes running onthe processor 2902. For example, a partition may be scored based on thekey of the partition relative to a key selected for the overallcomposition. Often, a performer may sing an off-key note without knowingit. Thus, notes within a partition may also be scored based on thedifference between the key of the note and the proper key for thepartition.

In many cases, however, a novice end-user may not know what music key hewants to sing in. Consequently, partition scorer 1702 may also beconfigured to automatically identify a key, which may be referred to as“Automatic Key Detection.” With “Automatic Key Detection,” partitionscorer 1702 may determine the key closest to that of the end-user'srecorded audio performance. The system 50 may highlight any notes thatare off-key from the automatically detected key and may furtherautomatically adjust those notes to fundamental frequencies that are inthe automatically determined key signature.

One illustrative process for determining the musical key is depicted inFIG. 16. As shown in the first block, this process scores the entiretrack against each of the 12 musical keys (C, C#/Db, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb,G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B) with weight being given to each fundamentalfrequency within a key. For instance, the key weight array for somearbitrary major key may look like this [1, −1, 1, −1, 1, 1, −1, 1, −1,1, −1, 1], which assigns a weighting to every one of the twelve notes ina scale beginning with Do and continuing with Re, etc. Assigning weightsto each note (or interval from the tonic) works for any type of key. Thenotes that are out of the key are given a negative weight. While themagnitudes of the weights are generally less important, they can beadjusted to individual user taste or based on input from genre matchermodule 152. For instance, some tones in the key are more definitive ofthat key, so the magnitude of their weights could be higher.Furthermore, some tones not in the key are more common than others; theycan remain negative but have smaller magnitudes. So, it would bepossible for a user or system 100 (based on input, for instance, fromthe genre matcher module 152) to develop a more refined keyWeights arrayfor a major key that could be [1, −1, 0.5, −0.5, 0.8, 0.9, −1, 1, −0.8,0.9, −0.2, 0.5]. Each of the 12 major keys would be associated with aweight array. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in theart having the present specification, drawings and claims before them,minor (or any other) keys could be accommodated by selecting weights foreach array that account for the tones within the key with reference toany document showing the relative position of notes within a key.

As shown in the third block of FIG. 16, the relative duration of eachnote to the duration of the overall passage (or partition) is multipliedby the “weight” of the note's pitch class in the key currently beinganalyzed for the loop to determine the score for each note in thepassage. At the start of each passage, the score is zeroed out, then thescores for each note as compared against the current key are added oneto another until there are no more notes in the passage and processloops back around to begin analyzing the passage with respect to thenext key. The result of the main loop of the process is a single keyscore for each key reflecting the aggregate of all the scores for eachof the notes in the passage. In the last block of the process of FIG.16, the key with the highest score would be selected as the BestKey(i.e. most appropriate for the passage). As would be understood by thoseof ordinary skill in the art different keys could tie or havesufficiently similar scores so as to be essentially tied.

In one embodiment, a note's pitch class in a key, represented by thevalue “index” in FIG. 17, may be determined using the formula:index:=(note.pitch−key+12) % 12, where note.pitch represents a numericalvalue associated with a specific pitch for an instrument, where thenumerical values are preferably assigned in order of increasing pitch.Taking the example of a piano, which has 88 keys, each key may beassociated with a numeral between 1 and 88 inclusively. For instance,key 1 may be the A0 Double Pedal A, key 88 may be the C8 eighth octave,and key 40 may be middle C.

In another embodiment where the end-user knows which musical key theywish to be in, the user may identify that key in which case, the processof FIG. 16 will be started for only the one key selected by the end-userrather than the 12 keys indicated. In this manner, each of thepartitions may be judged against the single predetermined key selectedby the user in the manner discussed above.

In another embodiment, a partition may also be judged against a chordconstraint. A chord sequence is a musical constraint that can beemployed when the user wishes to record an accompaniment. Accompanimentsmay be typically thought of as arpeggiations of the notes in the chordtrack and may also include the chords themselves. It is, of course,permissible to play notes that are out of the chord, but these musttypically be judged on their musical merits.

One illustrative process for scoring the quality of a partition'sharmony based on a chord sequence constraint is depicted in FIGS. 17,17A, and 17B. In the process of FIG. 17, one selected chord is scoredper pass according to how well that selected chord would harmonize witha given partition (or measure) of the audio track. The chord-score foreach note is the sum of a bonus and a multiplier. In the second box ofprocess 1700, the variables are reset to zero for each note in thepassage. Then, the relationship of the pitch of the note is compared tothe currently selected chord. If the note is in the selected chord, themultiplier is set to the value of chordNoteMultiplier set in the firstbox of process 1700. If the note is a tritone (i.e. a musical intervalthat spans three whole tones) of the chord root (e.g. C is the chordroot of a C major chord), then the multiplier is set to the value oftritoneMultiplier (which as is shown in FIG. 17A is negative, thus,indicating that the note does not harmonize well with the selectedchord). If the note is one or eight semitones above the root (or foursemitones above the root in the case of a minor chord), then themultiplier is set to the value of a nonKeyMultiplier (which as is shownin FIG. 17A is again negative, thus, indicating that the note does notharmonize well with the selected chord). Notes which fall into none ofthe foregoing categories are assigned a zero multiplier, and thus haveno effect on the chord-score. As shown in FIG. 17B, the multiplier isscaled by the fraction duration of the passage which the current noteoccupies. Bonuses are added to the chord-score if the note is at thebeginning of the passage, or if the note is the root of the currentchord selected for analysis. The chord-score with respect to the passageis the accumulation of this computation for each note. Once a firstselected chord is analyzed, the system 50 may analyze other selectedchords (one at a time) using the process 1700 anew. The chord-score fromeach pass through process 1700 may be compared to one another and thehighest score would determine the chord that would be selected toaccompany the passage as being the best fit with that passage. As wouldbe understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, two or more chords maybe found to have the same score with respect to a selected passage inwhich case system 50 could decide between those chords on the basis ofvarious choices, including, but not limited to the genre of the musicaltrack. It should also be understood by those of ordinary skill in theart having the present specification, drawings and claims before them,that the scoring set forth above is to some extent a matter of designchoice best upon the prevailing musical genre in Western Music. It isaccordingly contemplated that the selection criteria for the multiplierscould be altered for different genre of music and/or the multipliervalues assigned to the various multiplier selection criteria in FIG. 17could be changed to reflect different musical tastes without departingfrom the spirit of the present invention.

In another embodiment, partition scorer 1702 may also judge a partitionagainst the collection of certain allowed pitch values, such assemitones as are typical in Western music. However, quarter tones ofother musical traditions (such as those of Middle Eastern Cultures) aresimilarly contemplated.

In another embodiment, a partition may also be scored based on thequality of transitions between the various pitches within the partition.For example, as discussed above, changes in pitch may be identifiedusing pitch impulse detection. In one embodiment, the same pitch impulsedetection may also be used to identify the quality of the pitchtransitions in a partition. In one approach, system may utilize thegenerally understood concept that damped harmonic oscillators generallysatisfy the following equation:

${\frac{\mathbb{d}^{2}x}{\mathbb{d}t^{2}} + {2{\zeta\omega}_{0}\frac{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}t}} + {\omega_{0}^{2}x}} = 0$

where ω0 is the undamped angular frequency of the oscillator and ζ is asystem dependent constant called the damping ratio. (for a mass on aspring having a spring constant k and a damping coefficient c,ω0=√{square root over (k/m)} and ζ=c/2mω₀) It is understood that thevalue of the damping ratio ζ critically determines the behavior of thedamped system (e.g. overdamped, critically damped (ζ=1), orunderdamped). In a critically damped system, the system returns toequilibrium as quickly as possible without oscillating. A professionalsinger, in general, is able to change his/her pitch with a response thatis critically damped. By using pitch impulse analysis, both the truestart of the pitch change event and the quality of the pitch change maybe determined. In particular, the pitch change event is the deduced stepfunction, whereas the quality of the pitch change is determined by the ζvalue. For instance, FIG. 19 depicts a step-response of a dampedharmonic oscillator for three values ζ. In general, values of ζ>1 denotepoor vocal control, where the singer “hunts” for the target pitch. Thus,the larger the value of ζ, the poorer the pitch-transition-scoreattributed to the partition.

Another exemplary method for scoring the quality of pitch transition isshown in FIG. 20. In this embodiment, the scoring of a partition maycomprise receiving an audio input (process 2002), converting the audioinput into a morphology of pitch events showing the true oscillationsbetween pitch changes (process 2004), using the morphology of pitchevents to construct a waveform with critically damped pitch changesbetween each pitch event (process 2006), computing the differencebetween the pitch in the constructed waveform with the original audiowaveform (process 2008), and computing a score based on this difference(process 2010). In one embodiment, the score may be based on the signedroot mean square error between the “filtered pitch” and the“reconstructed pitch.” In simple terms, this calculation can indicatedto the end-user how far they deviated from the “ideal” pitch, which inturn may be turned into a pitch-transition-score.

The scoring methods described above may be utilized to score a partitionagainst either an explicit reference or an implicit reference. Anexplicit reference may be an existing or pre-recorded melody track,musical key, chord sequence, or note range. The explicit case istypically used when the performer is recording in unison with anothertrack. The explicit case could analogized to judging Karaoke in that themusic reference exists and the track is being analyzed using theprevious known melody as the reference. An implicit reference, on theother hand, may be a “target” melody (i.e. the system's best guess atthe notes that the performer is intending to produce) computed frommultiple previously recorded takes that have been saved by trackrecorder 202 in data storage 132. The implicit case is typically usedwhen the user is recording the lead melody of a song during which noreference is available, such as an original composition or a song forwhich partition scorer 1702 has no knowledge.

In the case where a reference is implicit, a reference may be computedfrom the takes. This is typically achieved by determining the centroidof the morphologies for each of the N partitions of each previouslyrecorded track. In one embodiment, the centroid of a set of morphologiesis simply a new morphology constructed by taking the mean average pitchand duration for each event in the morphology. This is repeated for n=1to N. The resulting centroid would then be treated as the morphology ofthe implicit reference track. One illustration of a centroid determinedin this manner for a single note is depicted in FIG. 18, with the dottedline depicting the resulting centroid. It is contemplated that othermethods may be used to compute the centroid. For instance, the modalaverage value of the set of morphologies for each of the takes could beused instead of the mean average. In any approach, any outlying valuescan be discarded before computing the average or mean. Those of ordinaryskill in the art having the present specification, drawings and claimsbefore them, would understand that additional options for determiningthe centroid of the takes may be developed based on the principles setforth in the specification without having to conduct undueexperimentation.

As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having thepresent specification, drawings and claims before them, any number ofthe foregoing independent methodologies for scoring partitions may becombined to provide an analysis of a wider set of the considerations.Each score may be given identical or different weight. If the scores aregiven different weights it may be based on the particular genre of thecomposition as determined by genre matcher module 152. For instance, insome musical genre a higher value may be placed on one aspect of aperformance over another. The selection of which scoring methodologiesare applied may also be determined automatically or manually selected bya user.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, partitions of musical performance mayselected from any of a plurality of recorded tracks. Compositor 1704 isconfigured to combine partitions from the plurality of recorded tracksin order to create an ideal track. The selection could be manual througha graphical user interface where the user could view the scoresidentified for each version of a partition, audition each version of apartition, and choose one version as the ‘best’ track. Alternatively, oradditionally, the combination of partitions may be performedautomatically by selecting the version of each track partition with thehighest scores based on the scoring concepts introduced above.

FIG. 21 illustrates on exemplary embodiment of a process for providing asingle, “best” take from a collection of takes using MTAC module 144 inconjunction with Audio Converter 140. In step 2102, the user sets aconfiguration. For instance, the user can select whether a partition isto be scored against an explicit or an implicit reference. The user mayalso select one or more criteria (i.e. key, melody, chord, target, etc.)to use for scoring a partition, and/or provide rankings to identify therelevant weight or importance of each criteria. A take is then recordedin step 2104, partitioned in step 2106, and converted into a morphologyin step 2108 using the process described above. If RSSL Module 142 isbeing employed then, as described above, at the end of the take, thetrack may automatically loop back to the start, allowing the user torecord another take. Also, during recording the user may choose to heara click track, a previously recorded track, a MIDI version of any singletrack, or a MIDI version of a “target” track computed as discussed abovewith respect to an explicit or an implicit reference (see FIGS. 18, 19,20 and 21). This allows the user to listen to a reference against whichhe can produce the next (hopefully improved) take.

In one embodiment, the end-user may select the reference and/or one ormore methods against which the recorded take(s) should be scored, step2110. For instance, the user's configuration may indicate that thepartition should be scored against a key, a melody, the chords, a targetmorphology constructed from the centroid of one or more tracks, or anyother method discussed above. The guide selection may be made manuallyby the user or set automatically by the system.

The partitions of a take are scored in step 2112, and, in step 2114, anindication of the scoring for each partition in a track may be indicatedto the user. This may benefit the end user by providing them with anindication of where the end user's pitch or timing is off so that theend user can improve in future takes. One illustration of a graphicaldisplay for illustrating the score of a partition is illustrated in FIG.22. In particular, FIG. 22 the vertical bars depict an audio waveform asrecorded from an audio source, the solid black, primarily horizontal,line depicts the ideal waveform the audio source was trying to mimic,and the arrows represent how the pitch of the audio source (e.g. asinger) varied from the ideal waveform (called the explicit reference).

In step 2116, the end user manually determines whether to record anothertake. If the user desires another take, the process returns to step2104. Once the end user has recorded all of the multiple takes for atrack, the process proceeds to step 2118.

In step 2118, the user may be provided a choice as to whether a “best”overall track is to be compiled from all of the takes manually orautomatically. If the user selects to create a manual composition, theuser may, in step 2120, simply audition the first partition of the firsttake, followed by the first partition of the second take, until each ofthe candidate first partitions have been auditioned. One interface thatbe used to facilitate the auditioning and selection between the varioustakes of the partitions is shown in FIG. 23 wherein the end user by usea pointing device (such as a mouse) to click on each track taken foreach partition to prompt the playback of that track and thensubsequently the user selects one of these candidate partitions as thebest performance of that partition by, for instance, double-clicking thedesired track and/or clicking-and-dragging the desired track into thebottom, final compiled track 2310. The user repeats this process forsecond, third and subsequent partitions, until he reaches the end of thetrack. The system then constructs a “best” track by splicing togetherthe selected partitions into a single, new track in step 2124. The usermay then also decide whether to record further takes in order to improvehis performance in step 2126. If the user chose to compile the “best”track automatically, a new track is spliced together in step 2122 basedon the scores for each partition in each take (preferably using thehighest scored take for each partition).

One example of a virtual “best” track that is spliced together frompartitions of actual recorded tracks is also illustrated in FIG. 23. Inthis example, the final compiled track 2310 includes a first partition2302 from take 1, a second partition 2304 from track 5, a thirdpartition 2306 from take 3 and a fourth partition 2308 taken from track2, with no partitions being used from track 4.

Harmonizer

Harmonizer module 146 implements a process for harmonizing notes from anaccompanying source with a musical key and/or chord of a lead source,which may be a vocal input, a musical instrument (real or virtual), or apre-recorded melody that may be selectable by a user. One exemplaryembodiment of this harmonizing process an accompanying source isdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 24 and 25. Each of these figures areillustrated as a data flow diagram (DFD). These diagrams provide agraphical representation of the “flow” of data through an informationsystem, where data items flow from an external data source or aninternal data store to an internal data store or an external data sink,via an internal process. These diagrams are not intended to provideinformation about the timing or ordering of processes, or about whetherprocesses will operate in sequence or in parallel. Also, control signalsand processes that convert input control flows into output control flowsare generally indicated by dotted lines.

FIG. 24 depicts that the harmonizer module 146 may generally include atransform note module 2402, a lead music source 2404, an accompanimentsource 2406, a chord/key selector 2408 and a controller 2410. As shown,the transform note module may receive lead music input from the leadmusic source 2404; and an accompaniment music input from theaccompaniment source 2406. The lead and accompaniment music may each becomprised of live audio or previously stored audio. In one embodimentthe harmonizer module 146 may also be configured to generate theaccompaniment music input based on a melody of the lead music input.

The transform note module 2402 may also receive a musical key and/or aselected chord from the chord/key selector 2408. The control signal fromcontroller 2410 indicates to transform note module 2402 whether themusic output should be based on the lead music input, accompanimentmusic input and/or musical key or chord from the chord/key selector 2408and how the transformation should be handled. For instance, as describedabove, the musical key and chord may be either derived from the leadmelody or the accompaniment source or even from the manually selectedkey or chord indicated by chord/key selector 2408.

Based on the control signal, the transform note module 2402 mayalternatively transform the lead music input into a note consonant withthe chord or the musical key, producing a harmonious output note. In oneembodiment, input notes are mapped to harmonious notes using apre-established consonance metric. In an embodiment discussed in moredetail below, the control signal may also be configured to indicatewhether one or more “blue-notes” may be allowed in the accompanimentmusic input without transformation by the transform note module 2402.

FIG. 25 illustrates a data flow diagram generally showing more detail ofthe processes that may be performed by transform note module 2402 ofFIG. 24 in selecting notes to “harmonize” with the lead music source2404. As shown, the lead musical input is received at process 2502,where a note of the lead melody is determined. In one embodiment, a noteof the lead melody may be determined using one of the techniquesdescribed, such as converting the lead musical input into a morphologythat identifies its onset, duration, and pitch, or any subset orcombination thereof. Of course, as would be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art having the present specification, drawings andclaims before them, other methods of determining a note from the leadmelody may be used. For example, if the lead music input is already inMIDI format, determining a note may simply include extracting a notefrom the MIDI stream. As notes of the lead melody are determined, theyare stored in a lead music buffer 2510. Proposed accompaniment musicalinput is received at process 2504 from accompaniment source 2406 (asshown in FIG. 24). Process 2504 determines a note of accompaniment andmay extract the MIDI note from the MIDI stream (where available),convert the musical input into a morphology that identifies its onset,duration, and pitch, or any subset or combination thereof or use anothermethodology that would be understood by those of ordinary skill in theart having the present specification, drawings and claims before them.

At process 2506, a chord of the lead melody may be determined from thenotes found in lead music buffer 2516. The chord of the lead melody maybe determined by analyzing notes in the same manner forth in associationwith FIG. 17 above or by using another methodology understood by thoseof ordinary skill in the art (such as a chord progression analysis usinga Hidden Markov Model as performed by Chord Matcher 154 describedbelow). The timing of the notes as well as the notes, themselves, may beanalyzed (among other potential considerations, such as genre) todetermine the current chord of the lead melody. Once that chord has beendetermined its notes are passed to transform note 2510 to awaitpotential selection by the control signal from control consonance 2514.

At process 2508 of FIG. 25, the musical key of the lead melody may bedetermined. In one embodiment, the process described with reference toFIG. 16 above may be used to determine the key of the lead melody. Inother embodiments, statistical techniques including the use of a HiddenMarkov Model or the like may be used to determine a musical key from thenotes stored in the lead music buffer. As would be understood by thoseof ordinary skill in the art having the present specification, drawing'sand claims before them, other methods of determining a musical key aresimilarly contemplated, including but not limited to combinations ofprocess 1600 and the use of statistical techniques. The output ofprocess 2508 is one of many inputs to transform note 2510.

Process 2510 (FIG. 25) “transforms” the note used as accompaniment. Thetransformation of the accompaniment musical note input into process 2510is determined by the output of control consonance 2514 (discussed insome detail below). Based on the output of control consonance 2514, thetransform note process 2510 may select between (a) the note input fromprocess 2504 (which is shown in FIG. 24 as having received theaccompaniment music input from the accompaniment source 2406); (b) oneor more notes from the chord (which is shown in FIG. 24 as having beenreceived from chord/key selector 2408); (c) a note from the selectedmusical key (the identity of the key having been received from chord/keyselector 2408 (as shown in FIG. 24)); (d) one or more notes from thechord input from process 2506 (which is shown as having been based onthe notes and musical key determined from the notes in the lead musicbuffer 2516); or (e) the musical key determined from the notes in thelead music buffer 2516 by process 2508.

At process 2512, the transformed note may be rendered by modifying thenote of accompaniment musical input and modifying the timing of the noteof accompaniment musical input. In one embodiment, the rendered note isplayed audibly. Additionally or alternatively, the transformed note mayalso be rendered visually.

Control consonance 2514 represents a collection of decisions that theprocess makes based on one or more inputs from one or more sources thatcontrol the selection of notes made by transform note process 2510.Control consonance 2514 receives a number of input control signals fromcontroller 2410 (see FIG. 24), which may come directly from user input(perhaps from a graphical user input or preset configuration), fromharmonizer module 146, genre matcher module 152 or another externalprocess. Among the potential user inputs that may be considered bycontrol consonance 2514 are user inputs that require the output note tobe (a) constrained to the chord selected via chord/key selector 2408(see FIG. 24); (b) constrained to the key selected via chord/keyselector 2408 (see FIG. 24); (c) in harmony with the chord or keyselected by 2408 (see FIG. 24); (d) constrained to the chord determinedby process 2506; (e) constrained to the key determined by process 2508;(f) in harmony with the chord or key determined from the lead notes; (g)constrained within a certain range of tones (e.g. below middle C, withintwo octaves of middle C, etc.); and/or (h) constrained within a certainselection of tones (i.e. minor, augmented, etc.).

Another input to control consonance 2514 is the consonance metric, whichis essentially a feedback path from the transform note process 2510.First, “consonance” is generally defined as sounds that make forpleasant harmony with respect to some base sound. Consonance can also bethought of as the opposite of dissonance (which includes any sounds usedfreely even if they are inharmonious). So, if an end user has causedcontrol signals to be fed into control consonance 2514 via controller2410 that constrained the output note from transform note process 2510to the chord or key manually selected via chord/key selector 2408, thenit is possible that one or more of the output notes were inharmonious tothe lead music buffer 2516. An indication that the output note wasinharmonious (i.e. the consonance metric) will be ultimately fed back tocontrol consonance 2514. While, control consonance 2514 is designed toforce the output note track generated by transform note 2510 back intoconsonance with the lead music due to inherent latencies in feedback andprogramming systems, a number of inharmonious notes are expected to beallowed through into the music output. In fact, allowing at least someinharmonious notes and even inharmonious rifts in the music produced bythe system should facilitate the system 50 making a less mechanicalsounding form of musical composition, something desired by theinventors.

In one embodiment, another control signal that may also be input intocontrol consonance 2514 indicates whether one or more “blue-notes” maybe allowed in the music output. As noted above, the term “blue note” forpurposes of this specification is given a broader meaning than itsordinary use in blues music as a note that is not in a correct musicalkey or chord, but which is allowed to be played without transformation.In addition to the harnessing the latencies of the system to providesome minimal insertion of “blue notes,” one or more blues accumulators(preferably software coded rather than hard wired) may be used toprovide some additional leeway for blue-notes. So, for example, oneaccumulator can be used to limit the number of blue-notes within asingle partition, another accumulator can be used to limit the number ofblue-notes in adjacent partitions, still another accumulator can be usedto limit the number of blue-notes per some predetermined time intervalor total number of notes. In other words, control consonance via theconsonance metric may be counting any one or more of the following:elapsing time, the number of blue-notes in the music output, the numberof total notes in the music output, the number of blue-notes perpartition, etc. Pre-determined, automatically determined, and real-timedetermined/adjusted ceilings can be programmed in real-time or aspreset/predetermined values. These values may also be affected by thegenre of the current composition.

In one embodiment, the system 100 may also include a super keyboard forproviding an accompaniment music source. The super keyboard may be aphysical hardware device, or a graphical representation that isgenerated and displayed by a computing device. In either embodiment,super keyboard may be thought of as the manual input for chord/keyselector 2408 of FIG. 24. The super keyboard preferably includes atleast one row of input keys on a keyboard that dynamically maps to notesthat are in musical key and/or that are in chord (that is, part of thechord) with respect to the existing melody. A super keyboard may alsoinclude a row of input keys that are inharmonious to the existingmelody. However, inharmonious input keys pressed on the super keyboardmay then be dynamically mapped to notes that are in the musical key ofthe existing melody, or to notes that are chord notes for the existingmelody.

One embodiment of a super keyboard in accordance with the presentinvention is illustrated in FIG. 26. The embodiment illustrated in FIG.26 is shown with respect to the notes for a standard piano, although itwould be understood that the super keyboard may be used for anyinstrument. In embodiment shown in FIG. 26, the top row 2602 of inputkeys of a super keyboard maps onto standard piano notes; the middle row2604 maps onto notes that are in a musical key for the existing melody;and the bottom row 2606 maps onto notes that are within the currentchord. More particularly, the top row exposes 12 notes per octave as ina regular piano, the middle row exposes eight notes per octave, and thebottom row exposes three notes per octave. In one embodiment, the colorof each input key in the middle row may depend on the current musicalkey of the melody. As such, when the musical key of the melody changes,the input keys that were chosen to be displayed in the middle row alsochange. In one embodiment, if an inharmonious musical note is entered bythe user from the top row, the super keyboard may also be configure toautomatically play a harmonious note instead. In this way, the playercan accompany lead music in an increasingly constrained manner the lowerthe row he chooses. However, other arrangements are also envisioned.

FIG. 27A illustrates one embodiment of a chord selector in accordancewith the present invention. In this embodiment, the chord selector maycomprise a graphical user interface of a chord wheel 2700. The chordwheel 2700 depicts chords that are in musical key with respect to theexisting melody. In one embodiment, the chord wheel 2700 displays chordsderived from the currently selected musical key. In one embodiment, thecurrently selected musical key is determined by the melody, as discussedabove. Additionally or alternatively, the outermost concentric circle ofthe chord wheel provides a mechanism to select a musical key. In oneembodiment, a user may input a chord via chord/key selector 2408, byselecting a chord from the chord wheel 2700.

In one embodiment, the chord wheel 2700 depicts seven chords related tothe currently selected musical key—three major chords, three minorchords, and one diminished chord. In this embodiment, the diminishedchord is located at the center of the chord wheel; the three minorchords surround the diminished chord; and the three major chordssurround the three minor chords. In one embodiment, a player is enabledto select a musical key using the outermost concentric circle, whereineach of the seven chords depicted by the chord wheel are determined bythe selected musical key.

FIG. 27B illustrates another potential embodiment of a chord selector inaccordance with the present invention at a particular instant duringoperation of system 50. In this embodiment, the chord selector maycomprise a chord flower 2750. Like chord wheel 2700, chord flower 2750depicts at least a sub-set of the chords that fall musically within thecurrent musical key of the current audio track. And Chord flower 2750also indicates the chord currently being played. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 27B, the key is C major (as can be determined fromthe identity of the major and minor chords included on the flower petalsand in the center) and the currently played chord is indicated by thechord depicted in the center, which in the illustrated time of playbackis C major. The chord flower 2750 is arranged to provide visual cues asto the probability of any depicted chord following immediately after thecurrently played chord. As depicted in FIG. 27B, the most likely chordprogression would be from the currently playing C major to G major, thenext most likely progression would be to F major, followed in likelihoodby A minor. In this sense, the likelihood that any chord will followanother is not a rigorous probability in the mathematical sense butrather a general concept of the frequency of a certain chordprogressions in particular genres of music. As would be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification,drawings and claims before them, when the lead track results in thecalculation of a different chord, then chord flower 2750 will change.For example, lets say that the next partition of the lead musical trackis actually determined to correspond to B-flat major, then the center ofthe flower would show an upper-case B with a flat symbol. In turn, theother chord found in the key of C major will “rotate” about the B-flatinto an arrangement that indicates the relatively likelihood that anyparticular chord is the next in the progression.

Track Sharer Module

Returning to the diagram of system 100 in FIG. 1A, track sharer module148 may enable transmission and receipt of tracks or multi-trackrecordings for system 100. In one embodiment, such tracks may betransferred or received from a remote device or server. The track sharermodule 148 may also perform administrative operations related to thesharing of tracks, such as enabling account login and exchange ofpayment and billing information.

Sound Searcher Module

Sound searcher module 150, also shown in FIG. 1A, may implementoperations related, to finding a previously recorded track ormulti-track recording. For example, based on an audible input, the SoundSearcher Module 150 may search for similar tracks and/or multi-trackrecordings that were previously recorded. This search may be performedon a particular device 50 or on other, networked devices or servers. Theresults of this search may then be presented via the device and a trackor multi-track recording may be subsequently accessed, purchased, orotherwise acquired for use on device 50 or otherwise within the system100.

Genre Matcher Module

Genre Matcher Module 152, also shown in FIG. 1A, is configured toidentify chord sequences and beat profiles that are common to a genre ofmusic. That is, a user may input or select a particular genre or anexemplary band that has an associated genre to Genre Matcher Module 152.The processing for each recorded track may then be preformed by applyingone or more traits of the indicated genre with each generated audiotrack. For example, if a user indicate “jazz” as the desired genre, thequantization of a recorded audible input may be applied such that thetiming of beats may tend to be syncopated. Also, the resulting chordsgenerated from the audible input may comprise be one or more chords thatare that are traditionally associated with jazz music. Furthermore, thenumber of “blue notes” may be higher than would be allowed in lets say aclassical piece.

Chord Matcher Module

Chord Matcher 154 provides pitch and chord related services. Forexample, Chord Matcher 154 may perform intelligent pitch correction of amonophonic track. Such a track may be derived from an audible input andpitch correction may include modifying a frequency of the input to alignthe pitch of the audible input with a particular, predeterminedfrequency. The Chord Matcher 154 may also build and refine anaccompaniment to an existing melody included in a previously recordedmulti-track recording.

In one embodiment, Chord Matcher 154 may also be configured todynamically identify the probability of appropriate future chords for anaudio track based on the previously played chords. In particular, ChordMatcher 142 may, in one embodiment, include a database of music. Using aHidden Markov Model in conjunction with this database, the probabilitiesfor a future progression of chords may then be determined based on theprevious chords occurring in the audio track.

Network Environment

As discussed above, device 50 may be any device capable of performingthe processes described above, and need not be networked to any otherdevices. Nevertheless, FIG. 28 shows components of one potentialembodiment of a network environment in which the invention may bepracticed. Not all the components may be required to practice theinvention, and variations in the arrangement and type of the componentsmay be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

As shown, system 2800 of FIG. 28 includes local area networks(“LANs”)/wide area networks (“WANs”)-(network) 2806, wireless network2810, client devices 2801-2805, Music Network Device (MND) 2808, andperipheral input/output (I/O) devices 2811-2813. Any one or more ofclient devices 2801-2805 may be comprised of a device 100 as describedabove. Of course, while several examples of client devices areillustrated, it should be understood that, in the context of the networkdisclosed in FIG. 28, client devices 2801-2805 may include virtually anycomputing device capable of processing audio signals and sendingaudio-related data over a network, such as network 2806, wirelessnetwork 2810, or the like. Client devices 2803-2805 may also includedevices that are configured to be portable. Thus, client devices2803-2805 may include virtually any portable computing device capable ofconnecting to another computing device and receiving information. Suchdevices include portable devices such as, cellular telephones, smartphones, display pagers, radio frequency (RF) devices, infrared (IR)devices, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, laptopcomputers, wearable computers, tablet computers, integrated devicescombining one or more of the preceding devices, and the like. As such,client devices 2803-2805 typically range widely in terms of capabilitiesand features. For example, a cell phone may have a numeric keypad and afew lines of monochrome LCD display on which only text may be displayed.In another example, a web-enabled mobile device may have a multi-touchsensitive screen, a stylus, and several lines of color LCD display inwhich both text and graphics may be displayed.

Client devices 2801-2805 may also include virtually any computing devicecapable of communicating over a network to send and receive information,including track information and social networking information,performing audibly generated track search queries, or the like. The setof such devices may include devices that typically connect using a wiredor wireless communications medium such as personal computers,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, or the like. In one embodiment, at least someof client devices 2803-2805 may operate over wired and/or wirelessnetwork.

A web-enabled client device may also include a browser application thatis configured to receive and to send web pages, web-based messages, andthe like. The browser application may be configured to receive anddisplay graphics, text, multimedia, and the like, employing virtuallyany web-based language, including a wireless application protocolmessages (WAP), and the like. In one embodiment, the browser applicationis enabled to employ Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML), WirelessMarkup Language (WML), WMLScript, JavaScript, Standard Generalized 25Markup Language (SMGL), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML), and the like, to display and send variouscontent. In one embodiment, a user of the client device may employ thebrowser application to interact with a messaging client, such as a textmessaging client, an email client, or the like, to send and/or receivemessages.

Client devices 2801-2805 also may include at least one other clientapplication that is configured to receive content from another computingdevice. The client application may include a capability to provide andreceive textual content, graphical content, audio content, and the like.The client application may further provide information that identifiesitself, including a type, capability, name, and the like. In oneembodiment, client devices 3001-3005 may uniquely identify themselvesthrough any of a variety of mechanisms, including a phone number, MobileIdentification Number (MIN), an electronic serial number (ESN), or othermobile device identifier. The information may also indicate a contentformat that the mobile device is enabled to employ. Such information maybe provided in a network packet, or the like, sent to MND 108, or othercomputing devices.

Client devices 2801-2805 may further be configured to include a clientapplication that enables the end-user to log into a user account thatmay be managed by another computing device, such as MND 2808, or thelike. Such a user account, for example, may be configured to enable theend-user to participate in one or more social networking activities,such as submit a track or a multi-track recording, search for tracks orrecordings similar to an audible input, download a track or recording,and participate in an online music community, particularly one centeredaround the sharing, review, and discussion of produced tracks andmulti-track recordings. However, participation in various networkingactivities may also be performed without logging into the user account.

In one embodiment, a musical input comprising the melody may be receivedby client devices 2801-2805 over network 2806 or 2810 from MND 3008, orfrom any other processor-based device capable of transmitting such amusical input. The musical input containing the melody may bepre-recorded or captured live by MND 2808 or other such processor-baseddevice. Additionally or alternatively, the melody may be captured inreal-time by client devices 2801-2805. For example, a melody generatingdevice may generate a melody, and a microphone in communication with oneof client devices 2801-2805 may capture the generated melody. If themusic input is captured live, the system typically seeks at least onebar of music before the musical key and chords of the melody arecalculated. This is analogous to musicians playing in a band, where anaccompanying musician may typically listen to at least one bar of amelody to determine the musical key and chords being played beforecontributing any additional music.

In one embodiment, the musician may interact with client devices2801-2805 in order to accompany a melody, treating a client device as avirtual instrument. Additionally or alternatively, the musicianaccompanying the melody may sing and/or play a musical instrument, suchas user played instrument, to accompany a melody.

Wireless network 2810 is configured to couple client devices 2803-2805and its components with network 2806. Wireless network 2810 may includeany of a variety of wireless sub-networks that may further overlaystand-alone ad-hoc networks, and the like, to provide aninfrastructure-oriented connection for client devices 2803-2805. Suchsub-networks may include mesh networks, Wireless LAN (WLAN) networks,cellular networks, and the like. Wireless network 2810 may furtherinclude an autonomous system of terminals, gateways, routers, and thelike connected by wireless radio links, and the like. These connectorsmay be configured to move freely and randomly and organize themselvesarbitrarily, such that the topology of wireless network 2810 may changerapidly.

Wireless network 2810 may further employ a plurality of accesstechnologies including 2nd (2G), 3rd (3G), 4th (4G) generation radioaccess for cellular systems, WLAN. Wireless Router (WR) mesh, and thelike. Access technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G and future access networksmay enable wide area coverage for mobile devices, such as client devices2803-2805 with various degrees of mobility. For example, wirelessnetwork 2810 may enable a radio connection through a radio networkaccess such as Global System for Mobil communication (GSM), GeneralPacket Radio Services (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE),Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), and the like. Inessence, wireless network 2810 may include virtually any wirelesscommunication mechanism by which information may travel between clientdevices 2803-2805 and another computing device, network, and the like.

Network 2806 is configured to couple network devices with othercomputing devices, including, MND 2808, client devices 2801-2802, andthrough wireless network 2810 to client devices 2803-2805. Network 2806is enabled to employ any form of computer readable media forcommunicating information from one electronic device to another. Also,network 106 can include the Internet in addition to local area networks(LANs), wide area networks (WANs), direct connections, such as through auniversal serial bus (USB) port, other forms of computer-readable media,or any combination thereof. On an interconnected set of LANs, includingthose based on differing architectures and protocols, a router acts as alink between LANs, enabling messages to be sent from one to another. Inaddition, communication links within LANs typically include twisted wirepair or coaxial cable, while communication links between networks mayutilize analog telephone lines, full or fractional dedicated digitallines including T1, T2, T3, and T4, Integrated Services Digital Networks(ISDNs), Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), wireless links includingsatellite links, or other communications links known to those skilled inthe art. Furthermore, remote computers and other related electronicdevices could be remotely connected to either LANs or WANs via a modemand temporary telephone link. In essence, network 2806 includes anycommunication method by which information may travel between computingdevices.

In one embodiment, client devices 2801-2805 may directly communicate,for example, using a peer to peer configuration.

Additionally, communication media typically embodies computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other transportmechanism and includes any information delivery media. By way ofexample, communication media includes wired media such as twisted pair,coaxial cable, fiber optics, wave guides, and other wired media andwireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

Various peripherals, including I/O devices 2811-2813 may be attached toclient devices 2801-2805. Multi-touch, pressure pad 2813 may receivephysical inputs from a user and be distributed as a USB peripheral,although not limited to USB, and other interface protocols may also beused, including but not limited to ZIGBEE, BLUETOOTH, or the like. Datatransported over an external and the interface protocol of pressure pad2813 may include, for example, MIDI formatted data, though data of otherformats may be conveyed over this connection as well. A similar pressurepad 2809 may alternately be bodily integrated with a client device, suchas mobile device 2805. A headset 2812 may be attached to an audio portor other wired or wireless I/O interface of a client device, providingan exemplary arrangement for a user to listen to looped playback of arecorded track, along with other audible outputs of the system.Microphone 2811 may be attached to a client device 2801-2805 via anaudio input port or other connection as well. Alternately, or inaddition to headset 2812 and microphone 2811, one or more other speakersand/or microphones may be integrated into one or more of the clientdevices 2801-2805 or other peripheral devices 2811-2813. Also, anexternal device may be connected to pressure pad 2813 and/or clientdevices 101-105 to provide an external source of sound samples,waveforms, signals, or other musical inputs that can be reproduced byexternal control. Such an external device may be a MIDI device to whicha client device 2803 and/or pressure pad 2813 may route MIDI events orother data in order to trigger the playback of audio from externaldevice 2814. However, formats other than MIDI may be employed by such anexternal device.

FIG. 30 shows one embodiment of a network device 3000, according to oneembodiment. Network device 3000 may include many more or less componentsthan those shown. The components shown, however, are sufficient todisclose an illustrative embodiment for practicing the invention.Network device 3000 may represent, for example, MND 2808 of FIG. 28.Briefly, network device 3000 may include any computing device capable ofconnecting to network 2806 to enable a user to send and receive tracksand track information between different accounts. In one embodiment,such track distribution, or sharing, is also performed between differentclient devices, which may be managed by different users, systemadministrators, business entities, or the like. Additionally oralternatively, network device 3000 may enable sharing a tune, includingmelody and harmony, produced with client devices 2801-2805. In oneembodiment, such melody or tune distribution, or sharing, is alsoperformed between different client devices, which may be managed bydifferent users, system administrators, business entities, or the like.In one embodiment, network device 3000 also operates to automaticallyprovide a similar “best” musical key and/or chord for a melody from acollection of musical keys and/or chords.

Devices that may operate as network device 3000 include various networkdevices, including, but not limited to personal computers, desktopcomputers, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, servers, network appliances, and thelike. As shown in FIG. 30, network device 3000 includes processing unit3012, video display adapter 3014, and a mass memory, all incommunication with each other via bus 3022. The mass memory generallyincludes RAM 3016, ROM 3032, and one or more permanent mass storagedevices, such as hard disk drive 3028, tape drive, optical drive, and/orfloppy disk drive. The mass memory stores operating system 3020 forcontrolling the operation of network device 3000. Any general-purposeoperating system may be employed. Basic input/output system (“BIOS”)3018 is also provided for controlling the low-level operation of networkdevice 3000. As illustrated in FIG. 30, network device 3000 also cancommunicate with the Internet, or some other communications network, vianetwork interface unit 3010, which is constructed for use with variouscommunication protocols including the TCP/IP protocol. Network interfaceunit 3010 is sometimes known as a transceiver, transceiving device, ornetwork interface card (NIC).

The mass memory as described above illustrates another type ofcomputer-readable media, namely computer-readable storage media.Computer-readable storage media may include volatile, nonvolatile,removable, and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Examplesof computer readable storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other mediumwhich can be used to store the desired information and which can beaccessed by a computing device.

As shown, data stores 3052 may include a database, text, spreadsheet,folder, file, or the like, that may be configured to maintain and storeuser account identifiers, email addresses, IM addresses, and/or othernetwork addresses; group identifier information; tracks or multi-trackrecordings associated with each user account; rules for sharing tracksand/or recordings; billing information; or the like. In one embodiment,at least some of data store 3052 might also be stored on anothercomponent of network device 3000, including, but not limited tocd-rom/dvd-rom 3026, hard disk drive 3028, or the like.

The mass memory also stores program code and data. One or moreapplications 3050 are loaded into mass memory and run on operatingsystem 3020. Examples of application programs may include transcoders,schedulers, calendars, database programs, word processing programs, HTTPprograms, customizable user interface programs, IPSec applications,encryption programs, security programs, SMS message servers, IM messageservers, email servers, account managers, and so forth. Web server 3057and Music Service 3056 may also be included as application programswithin applications 3050.

Web server 3057 represent any of a variety of services that areconfigured to provide content, including messages, over a network toanother computing device. Thus, web server 3057 includes for example, aweb server, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, a database server, acontent server, or the like. Web server 3057 may provide the contentincluding messages over the network using any of a variety of formats,including, but not limited to WAP, HDML, WML, SMGL, HTML, XML, cHTML,xHTML, or the like. In one embodiment, web server 3057 may be configuredto enable a user to access and manage user accounts and shared tracksand multi-track recordings.

Music Service 3056 may provide various functions related to enabling anonline music community and may further include a Music Matcher 3054 aRights Manager 3058, and melody data. The Music Matcher 3054 may matchsimilar tracks and multi-track recordings, including those stored indata stores 3052. In one embodiment, such matching may be requested bySound Searcher or MTAC on a client device which may, for example,provide an audible input, track, or multi-track to be matched. RightsManager 3058 enables a user associated with an account to upload tracksand multi-track recordings. Such tracks and multi-track recordings maybe stored in one or more data stores 3052. The Rights Manager 3058 mayfurther enable a user to provide controls for the distribution ofprovided tracks and multi-track recordings, such as restrictions basedon a relationship or membership in the online music community, apayment, or an intended use of a track or multi-track recording. UsingRights Manager 3058, a user may also restrict all access rights to astored track or multi-track recording, thereby enabling an unfinishedrecording or other work-in-progress to be stored without communityreview before the user believes it to be ready.

Music Service 3056 may also host or otherwise enable single ormultiplayer games to be played by and among various members of theonline music community. For example, a multi-user role playing gamehosted by Music Service 3056 may be set in the music recording industry.Users may select a role for their character that is typical of theindustry. A game user may then progress their character through thecreation of music using their client device 50 and, for example, RSLL142, and MTAC 144.

Messaging server 3056 may include virtually any computing component orcomponents configured and arranged to forward messages from message useragents, and/or other message servers, or to deliver messages. Thus,messaging server 3056 may include a message transfer manager tocommunicate a message employing any of a variety of messaging protocols,including, but not limited, to SMS messages, IM, MMS, IRC, RSS feeds,mIRC, any of a variety of text messaging protocols, or any of a varietyof other message types. In one embodiment, messaging server 3056 mayenable users to initiate and/or otherwise conduct chat sessions, VOIPsessions, text messaging sessions, or the like.

It is noted that while network device 3000 is illustrated as a singlenetwork device, the invention is not so limited. For example, in anotherembodiment, a music service, or the like, of network device 3000 mayreside in one network device, while an associated data store mightreside in another network device. In still another embodiment, variousmusic and/or message forwarding components might reside in one or moreclient devices, operate in a peer-to-peer configuration, or the like.

Gaming Environment

To further facilitate the creation and composition of music, FIGS. 31-37illustrate an embodiment in which a gaming interface is provided as theuser interface to the music compilation tools described above. In thismanner, it is believed that the user interface will be lessintimidating, more user-friendly so as to minimize any interference withan end user's creative musical process. As will be apparent from thefollowing discussion, the gaming interface provides visual cues andindicia that are associated with one or more functional aspectsdescribed above in order to simplify, streamline, and incentivise themusic compilation process. This enables end users (also referred to withrespect to this embodiment as “players”) to utilize professional qualitytools to create professional quality music without requiring those usersto have any expertise in music theory or the operation of music creationtools.

Turning first to FIG. 31, one exemplary embodiment of a first displayinterface 3100 is provided. In this interface, the player may beprovided a studio view from the perspective of a music producer sittingbehind a mixing board. In the embodiment of FIG. 31, three differentstudio rooms are then visualized in the background: a leadvocal/instrument room 3102, a percussion room 3104, and an accompanimentroom 3106. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the present specification, drawings and claims before them, thenumber of rooms could be greater or fewer, the functionality provided ineach room may be sub-divided differently and/or additional options maybe provided in the rooms. Each of the three rooms depicted in FIG. 31may include one or more musician “avatars” that provide visual cues thatillustrate the nature and/or purpose of the room, as well as to providefurther cues as to the genre, style, and/or nuanced performance of musicperformed by the “avatars” and the variety of instruments beingutilized. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 31, thelead vocal/instrument room 3102 includes a female pop singer, theaccompaniment room 3104 includes a rock drummer, and the accompanimentroom 3106 includes a country violinist, a rock bass player, and ahip-hop electric keyboard player. As will be discussed in more detailbelow, the selection of musician avatars, in conjunction with otheraspects of the gaming environment interface, provides a visual, easy tounderstand, interface by which various tools described above can bereadily implemented by the most novice of end users.

To begin creating music, the player may select one of these rooms. Inone embodiment, the user may simply select the room directly using amouse or other input device. Alternatively, one or more buttons may beprovided that correspond to the various studio rooms. For example, inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 31, selection of a lead room button3110 will transfer the player to the lead vocal/instrument room 3102,selection of a percussion room button 3108 will transfer the player tothe percussion room 3104; and selection of an accompaniment room button3112 will transfer the player to the accompaniment room 3106.

Other selectable buttons may also be provided, as shown in FIG. 31. Forinstance, a record button 3116 and a stop button 3118 may be provided tostart and stop the recording of any music made by the end user in studioroom 3100 via the recording session live looping module 142 (FIG. 1A). Asettings button 3120 may be provided to permit the player to altervarious settings, such as desired genre, tempo, and rhythm, volume, etc.A search button 3122 may be provided to enable a user to initiate thesound searcher module 150. Buttons for saving (3124) and deleting (3126)the player's musical composition may also be provided.

FIG. 32 presents one exemplary embodiment of a lead vocal/instrumentroom 3102. In this embodiment, the interface for this studio room hasbeen configured to enable an end user to create and record one or morelead vocal and/or instrument tracks for a musical compilation. The leadvocal/instrument room 3102 may include a control space 3202 similar tothe one described above in conjunction with FIGS. 12-13. Thus, asdescribed above, the control space 3202 may include a plurality ofpartition indicators 3204 to identify each of the partitions (e.g.musical measures) in the track; vertical lines 3206 illustrating thebeat within each measure, horizontal lines 3208 identifying the variousfundamental frequencies associated with a selected instrument (such as aguitar indicated by instrument selector 3214 (shown in FIG. 32), and aplayback bar to identify the specific part of the live loop that iscurrently being played.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 32, the interface illustrates theaudio waveform 3210 of one track that has already been recorded,presumably earlier in the session by the player, however, the user mayalso pull up preexisting audio tracks particularly in conjunction withsound search module 150 (as called by search button 3122 (see FIG. 31).In the example illustrated in FIG. 32, the recorded audio waveform 3210has also been converted into its morphology of the notes 3212 incorrespondence to the fundamental frequencies of a guitar, as indicatedby instrument selector 3214. As should be understood, using variousinstrument selector icons that may be dragged onto control space 3202,the player may be able to select one or more other instruments, whichwould cause the original audio waveform to be converted to a differentmorphology of notes corresponding to the fundamental frequencies of thenewly or additionally selected instrument(s). The player may also alterthe number of measures, or the number of beats per measure, which mayalso then cause the audio waveform to be quantized (by quantizer 206(see FIG. 2)) and aligned in time with the newly altered timing. Itshould also be understood that while the player may choose to convertthe audio waveform into a morphology of notes associated with aninstrument, the player need not do so, thus enabling one or moreoriginal sounds from the audible input to be substantially included inthe generated audio track with its original timbre.

As shown in FIG. 32, an avatar of a singer 3220 may also be provided inthe background. In one embodiment, this avatar may provide a readilyunderstandable visual indication of a specific genre of music that hasbeen previously defined in genre matcher module 152. For instance, inFIG. 32, the singer is illustrated as a pop singer. In this case, theprocessing of the recorded track 3210 may be performed by applying oneor more traits associated with pop music. In other examples, the singercould be illustrated as a male adult, a young male or female child, abarber-shop quartet, as opera or Broadway diva, a country-western star,a hip-hop musician, a British Invasion rocker, folk singer, etc. withthe resulting pitch, rhythms, modes, musical textures, timbres,expressive qualities, harmonies, etc. that people commonly understand tobe associated with each type of singer. In one embodiment, to provideadditional entertainment value the singer avatar 3220 may be programmedto dance and otherwise act like the avatar is involved in a recordingsession perhaps even in synchronization with the musical track.

The lead vocal/instrument room interface 3102 may further include atrack selector 3216. The track selector 3216 enables a user to record orcreate multiple lead takes and the select one or more of those takes tobe included within the musical compilation. For example, in FIG. 32,three track windows, labeled as “1”, “2”, and “3” are illustrated, eachof which shows a miniature representation of an audio waveform of thecorresponding track in order to provide a visual cue as to the audioassociated with each track. The track in each track window may representa separately recorded audio take. However, it should also be understoodthat copies of an audio track may be created, in which case each trackwindow may represent different instances of a single audio waveform. Forinstance, track window “1” could represent an unaltered vocal version ofthe audio waveform, track window “2” could represent the audio waveformas converted into a morphology of notes associated with a guitar, andtrack window “3” could represent the same audio waveform as convertedinto a morphology of notes associated with a piano. As would beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, there need be noparticular limitation on the number of tracks that may be held on trackselector 3216.

A track selection window 3218 is provided to enable the player to selectone or more of the tracks to be included in the musical compilation by,for example, selecting and dragging one or more of the three trackwindows to the selection window 3218. In one embodiment, the selectionwindow 3218 may also be used to engage MTAC module 144 in order togenerate a single best take from multiple takes “1” “2” and “3.”

The lead vocal/instrument room interface 3102 may also include aplurality of buttons to enable one or more functions associated with thecreation of a lead vocal or instrument track. For instance, a minimizebutton 3222 may be provided to permit a user to minimize grid 3202;sound button 3224 may be provided to enable a user to mute or unmute thesound associated with one or more audio tracks, a solo button 3226 maybe provided to mute any accompaniment audio that has been generated bythe system 100 based on the audio waveform 3210 or its morphology so asto allow the player to concentrate on issues associated with the leadaudio, a new track button 3228 may be provided to enable the user tobegin recording a new lead track; morphology button 3230 activates theoperations of frequency detector and shifter 208 and 210 on the audiowaveform in the control space 3202. A set of buttons may also beprovided to enable a user to set a reference tone to aid in providing avocal track. Thus, toggling tone button 3232 may enable and disable areference tone, tone up button 3234 may increase the frequency of thereference tone, and tone down button 3236 may decrease the pitch of thereference tone.

FIG. 33 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a percussion room 3104.The interface for this room is configured to enable the player to createand record one or more percussion tracks for the musical compilation.The percussion room interface 3104 includes a control space similar tothe one described above in conjunction with FIG. 14. Thus, the controlspace may include a grid 3302 that represents the playback and timing ofseparate sounds within one or more percussion tracks, a playback bar3304 to identify the specific part of the live loop that is currentlybeing played, and a plurality of partitions (1-4) divided into multiplebeats, with each box 3306 in the grid representing the timing incrementsfor sounds associated with the related percussion instrument (where anunshaded box indicates that no sound is to be played at that timeincrement, and a shaded box indicates that a sound associated with thetimbre of the related percussion instrument is to be played at that timeincrement).

A percussion segment selector 3308 may also be provided in order toenable a player to create and select multiple percussion segments. Inthe example illustrated in FIG. 33, only the partitions of a singlepercussion segment “A” are shown. However, by selecting the percussionsegment selector 3308, additional segments may be created and identifiedas segments “B”, “C” and so on. The player may then create differentpercussion sequences within each partition of each different segment.The created segments may then be arranged in any order to create a morevaried percussion track for use in the musical compilation. For example,a player may desire to create different percussion tracks repetitivelyplayed in the following order: “A”, “A”, “B”, “C”, “B”, although anynumber of segments may be created and any order may be used. Tofacilitate review and creation of multiple percussion segments, asegment playback indicator 3310 may be provided to visually indicate thepercussion segment that is currently being played and/or edited, as wellas the portion of the segment that is being played and/or edited.

As further illustrated in FIG. 33, an avatar of a drummer 3320 may alsobe provided in the background. Similar to the performer avatar describedin conjunction with the lead vocal/instrument room 3102, the drummeravatar 3220 may provide a readily understandable visual indication of aspecific genre of music and style of playing that corresponds to a genrethat has been previously defined in genre matcher module 152. Forinstance, in FIG. 33, the drummer is illustrated as a rock drummer. Inthis case, the processing of the created percussion tracks may beperformed for each percussion instrument by applying one or morepreviously defined traits of percussion instruments associated with rockmusic. In one embodiment, to provide additional entertainment value thedrummer avatar 3320 may be programmed to dance and otherwise act likethe avatar is involved in a recording session perhaps even insynchronization with the musical track.

The percussion room interface 3104 may also include a plurality ofbuttons to enable one or more functions associated with the creation ofone or more percussion tracks. For instance, minimize button 3312 may beprovided to enable a user to minimize grid 3302, a sound button 3314 maybe provided to enable a user to mute or unmute the sound associated withone or more audio tracks, solo button 3316 may be provided to enable auser to toggle between mute and unmute to stop playback of the otheraudio tracks so the player can focus on the percussion track withoutdistraction, additional percussion instrument button 3318 adds anadditional sub-track corresponding to a percussion instrument that maybe selected by the player, and swing button 3320 permits a user to swing(i.e. syncopate) notes.

FIGS. 34A-C present one exemplary embodiment of an accompaniment roominterface 3106. The interface for this studio room is configured toprovide the player with a musical pallet from which the user can selectand create one or more accompaniment tracks for a musical compilation.For example, as shown in FIG. 34A, the player may be provided with aninstrument class selector bar 3402 to enable the player to select aclass of instrument to accompany the lead vocal and/or musical tracks.In the illustrated embodiment, three classes are illustrated forselection—base 3404, keyboard 3406, and guitar 3408. As would beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, any number of instrumentclasses may be provided including a variety of instruments, includingbrass, woodwinds, and strings.

For illustration purposes, let us assume that the player has selectedthe bass class 3404 in FIG. 34A. In that case, the player is thenprovided with an option to select among one or more musician avatars toplay the accompanying instrument. For example, as shown in FIG. 34B, theplayer may be provided with the option to select between a countrymusician 3410, a rock musician 3412, and a hip-hop musician 3414, whichthe player may then select by clicking directly on the desired avatar.Of course, while three avatars are illustrated, the player may bepermitted to select between more or less choices. Arrows 3416 may alsobe provided to enable the player to scroll through the avatar choices,especially where more avatars choices are provided.

After selecting a musician avatar in FIG. 34B, the player may then beprovided with an option to select a specific instrument. For example,let us now assume that the player has selected the country musician. Asshown in FIG. 34C, the player may then be given the option to selectamong an electric bass guitar 3418, a standing bass 3420, or an acousticbass guitar 3422, which the player may then select by clicking directlyon the desired instrument. Arrows 3424 may also be provided to enablethe player to scroll through the instrument choices, which as would beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the presentspecification, drawings and claims before them, may not be limited toonly three types of bass instruments. Of course, while in the abovesequence the instrument class is selected prior to selecting a musicianavatar, it is contemplated that a player may be provided with the optionto select a musician avatar before selecting a class of instrument.Similarly, it is also contemplated that a player may be provided theoption to select a specific instrument before selecting a musicianavatar.

After the player has selected a musician avatar, and instrument, system100 creates an appropriate accompaniment track by generating a set ofaccompaniment notes based on the one or more lead tracks currently beingplayed in the lead vocal/instrument room 3102 (even if the other roomsare muted), converting those notes to the appropriate genre, timbre, andmusical style for the selected musician and instrument utilizing genrematcher module 152 and harmonizer module 146 to harmonize the one ormore lead tracks. Thus, an accompaniment track for a specific instrumentmay have different sound, timing, harmony, blue note content, and thelike depending on instrument and musician avatar chosen by the player.

The accompaniment room interface 3106 is also configured to enable theplayer to individually audition each of the multiple musician avatarsand/or multiple instruments to aid in the selection of a preferredaccompaniment track. As such, once a musical instrument and avatar havebeen selected by the user and the corresponding accompaniment track hasbeen created as described above, the accompaniment track isautomatically played in conjunction with other previously created tracks(lead, percussion, or accompaniment) during a live loop playback so thatthe player can, in virtually real time, assess whether the newaccompaniment track is a good fit. The player may then choose to keepthe accompanying track, select a different musician avatar for the sameinstrument, select a different instrument for the same musician avatar,pick an entirely new avatar and instrument, or delete the accompanimenttrack altogether. The player may also create multiple accompanimenttracks by repeating the steps described above.

FIG. 35 illustrates one potential embodiment of a graphical interfacethat depicts the chord progression playing as accompaniment of the leadmusic. In one embodiment, this graphical user interface may be launch bypressing the flower button shown in FIGS. 34A, 34B, and 34C. Inparticular, this interface shows the chord progression that is generallybeing forced onto the multiple accompanying avatars in accompanimentroom 3106 subject to any blue note allowances (due to genre and otherissues discussed above in association with FIG. 25) that the avatar mayhave built into its associated configuration file. Each avatar may alsohave certain arpeggio techniques (i.e. broken chords played in asequence) that are associated with the avatar because of the avatar'sgenre or based on other attributes of the avatar. As depicted in theexample of FIG. 35, the chord progression is “G” major, “A” minor, “C”major, “A” minor, with each chord being played for the entirety of apartition in accord with the technique individually associated with eachaccompanying avatar in accompaniment room 3106. As would be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification,drawings and claims before them, the chord progression may change chordsmultiple times within a single partition or may remain the same chordover a plurality of partitions.

FIG. 36 illustrates one exemplary interface by which a player canidentify the portion of a musical composition the player desires tocreate or edit. For instance, in the exemplary interface shown in FIG.36, a tabbed structure 3600 is provided in which the player can selectbetween an intro section, a verse section, and a chorus section of amusical composition. Of course, it should be understood that otherportions of a musical composition may also be available, such as abridge, an outro, and the like. The portions that are made available forediting in a particular musical composition may be predetermined,manually selected by the player, or automatically set based on aselected genre of music. The order in which the various portions areultimately arranged to form a musical composition may similarly bepredetermined, manually selected by the player, or automatically setbased on a selected genre of music. So, for instance, if a novice userchoose to create a pop song, tabbed structure 3600 may be pre-populatedwith the expected elements of a pop composition, which generally includean introduction, one or more versus, a chorus, a bridge and aconclusion. The end user may then be prompted to create music associatedwith a first aspect of this overall composition. After completing thefirst aspect of the overall composition, the end user may be directed tocreate another aspect. Each aspect individually and/or collective may bescored to warn an end user if the key of adjacent elements is different.As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having thepresent specification, drawings and claims before them, using standardgraphical user interface manipulation techniques, portions of thecomposition may be deleted, moved to other portions of the composition,copied and subsequently modified, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 36, the tab for each portion of a musical compilationmay also include selectable icons to enable a player to identify andedit audio tracks associated with that portion, where a first row mayillustrate the lead track, the second row may illustrate theaccompaniment track, and the third row may illustrate the percussiontracks. In the illustrated example, the intro section is shown asincluding keyboard and guitar lead tracks (3602 and 3604, respectively);guitar, keyboard, and bass accompaniment tracks (3606, 3608, and 3610,respectively); and a percussion track 3612. A chord selector icon 3614may also be provided that, when selected, provides the player with aninterface (such as in FIG. 27 or FIG. 35) that allows the player toalter the chords associated with the accompaniment tracks.

FIGS. 37A and 37B illustrate one embodiment of a file structure that maybe provided for certain visual cues utilized in the graphical interfacedescribed above and stored in data storage 132. Turning first, to FIG.37A, a file 3700, also referred to herein as a musical asset, may beprovided for each musician avatar that is player selectable within thegraphical interface. For example, in FIG. 37A, the top musical assetillustrated is for a hip-hop musician. In this embodiment, the musicalasset may include visual attributes 3704 that identify the graphicallook of the avatar that is to be associated with the musical asset. Themusical asset may also include one or more functional attributes thatare associated with the musical asset and which, upon selection of themusical asset by the player, are applied to an audio track orcompilation. The functional attributes may be stored within the musicalasset and/or provide a pointer or call to another file, object orprocess, such as genre matcher 152. The functional attributes may beconfigured to affect any of the various setting or selection describedabove, including but not limited to the rhythm or tempo of a track,constraints on the chords or keys to be used, constraints on availableinstruments, the nature of the transitions between notes, the structureor progression of a musical compilation, etc. In one embodiment, thesefunctional assets may be based on the genre of music that would begenerally associated with the visual representation of the musician. Ininstances where the visual attributes provide a representation of aspecific musician, the functional attributes may also be based on themusical style of that particular musician.

FIG. 37B illustrates another set of musical assets 3706 that may beassociated with each selectable instrument, which may be a generic typeof instrument (i.e. a guitar) or a specific brand and/or model ofinstrument (i.e. Fender Stratocaster, Rhodes Electric Piano, WurlitzerOrgan) Similar to the musical assets 3700 corresponding to musicianavatars, each musical asset 3706 for an instrument may include visualattributes 3708 that identify the graphical look of the instrument thatis to be associated with the musical asset, and one or more functionalattributes 3710 of that instrument. As above, the functional attributes3710 may be configured to affect any of the various setting or selectiondescribed above. For an instrument, these may include the availablefundamental frequencies, the nature of the transition between notes,etc.

Using the graphical tools and the game based dynamic illustrated inFIGS. 31-37, novice user will be more readily able to createprofessional sounding musical compositions that the user will be willingto share with other user for self-enjoyment and even entertainment muchthe same way the player may listen to commercially produced music. Thegraphical paradigm provided in the context of a music authoring systemin the present specification would work equally well with respect to avariety of creative projects and endeavors that are generally performedby professionals because the level of skill otherwise necessary toproduce even a pedestrian product would be too high to accessible to theordinary person. However, by simplifying the routine tasks, even anovice user can be making professional level projects with intuitiveease.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate theinvention and the invention is not limited thereto. While thespecification is described in relation to certain implementation orembodiments, many details are set forth for the purpose of illustration.Thus, the foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention.For example, the invention may have other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristic. The describedarrangements are illustrative and not restrictive. To those skilled inthe art, the invention is susceptible to additional implementations orembodiments and certain of these details described in this applicationmay be varied considerably without departing from the basic principlesof the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in theart will be able to devise various arrangements which, although notexplicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of theinvention and, thus, within its scope and spirit.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for assisting an end user to develop amusical composition, the system comprising: a data storage medium; aplurality of musical assets stored in the data storage medium, each ofthe plurality of musical assets being mapped to a predeterminedfunctional attribute and a predetermined visual attribute, wherein: afirst musical asset of the plurality of musical assets is mapped to afirst predetermined functional attribute and includes a firstpredetermined visual attribute depicting an avatar, and a second musicalasset of the plurality of musical assets is mapped to a secondpredetermined functional attribute and includes a second predeterminedvisual attribute depicting a musical instrument; a user interface thatis coupled to an audio interface, a display driver and a user inputhandler; the user interface being configured to render a graphicaldisplay that enables the end user to select the first and second musicalassets via display of the first and second predetermined visualattributes among one or more visual attributes mapped to one or more ofthe plurality of musical assets; and an audio converter module operablycoupled to the user interface and the data storage medium, the audioconverter module being capable of capturing audio recorded by anend-user through the audio interface, processing the audio; andproducing a multi-track musical compilation comprised of a plurality ofaudio tracks mixed together in a manner where the multiple tracks aresubstantially musically harmonious with one another; wherein, inresponse to the end-user selecting the first and second musical assetsvia selection of the mapped first and second predetermined visualattributes via the user interface, the audio converter alters at leastone portion of a single audio track by applying the first and secondpredetermined functional attributes to the at least one portion of thesignal audio track, wherein the single audio track is one of theplurality of audio tracks.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the secondpredetermined visual attribute includes a first visual indicator of atype of instrument and a second visual indicator of a styled appearanceof the instrument corresponding to one or more musical attributesassociated with a class of the type of instrument.
 3. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the second predetermined visual attribute includes afirst visual indicator of a type of instrument and a second visualindicator of a styled appearance of the instrument corresponding to oneor more musical attributes associated with that particular type ofinstrument.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of musicalassets includes a plurality of a first type of musical assets, and aplurality of a second type of musical assets; and wherein the firstmusical asset is one of the plurality of the first type of musicalassets and the second musical asset is one of the plurality of thesecond type of musical assets.
 5. The system of claim 4 wherein thefirst type of musical asset is associated with a musician or vocalistand the second type of musical asset is associated with an instrument.6. The system of claim 1 wherein the single audio track is generatedfrom audio recorded by the end-user.
 7. The system of claim 1 whereinthe single audio track is a pre-recorded audio track.
 8. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the single audio track is an audio track that isgenerated based on a different, previously recorded audio track.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8 wherein notes in the single audio track are generatedto be synchronous with notes in the different, previously recorded audiotrack.
 10. A method for assisting an end user to develop a musicalcomposition, the method comprising: storing a plurality of musicalassets, each of the plurality of musical assets being mapped to apredetermined functional attribute and a predetermined visual attribute,wherein: a first musical asset of the plurality of musical assets ismapped to a first predetermined functional attribute and includes afirst predetermined visual attribute depicting an avatar, and a secondmusical asset of the plurality of musical assets is mapped to a secondpredetermined functional attribute and includes a second predeterminedvisual attribute depicting a musical instrument; providing a userinterface configured to render a graphical display that enables the enduser to select the first and second musical assets via display of thefirst and second predetermined visual attributes among one or morevisual attributes mapped to one or more of the plurality of musicalassets; receiving an indication that the end-user has selected the firstand second musical assets via selection of the mapped first and secondpredetermined visual attributes; altering at least one portion of asingle audio track by applying the first and second predeterminedfunctional attributes to the at least one portion of the single audiotrack; and producing a multi-track musical compilation using the atleast one portion of the single audio track, wherein each of themultiple audio tracks in the musical compilation are mixed together in amanner where the multiple tracks are substantially musically harmoniouswith one another.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the secondpredetermined visual attribute includes a first visual indicator of anavatar representing a type of musician or vocalist and a second visualindicator of a styled appearance of the avatar corresponding to one ormore musical attributes.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the secondpredetermined visual attribute includes a first visual indicator of atype of instrument and a second visual indicator of a styled appearanceof the instrument corresponding to one or more musical attributesassociated with a class of the type of instrument.
 13. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the second predetermined visual attribute includes afirst visual indicator of a type of instrument and a second visualindicator of a styled appearance of the instrument corresponding to amusical style or musical quality associated with that particular type ofinstrument.
 14. The method of claim 10 further including capturing audiorecorded by the end-user and converting the captured audio into theaudio track.
 15. The method of claim 10 further including generatingnotes of the audio track based on one or more criteria associated with apreviously recorded audio track.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein thesecond musical asset includes a first visual indicator of a type ofinstrument and a second visual indicator of a styled appearance of theinstrument corresponding to a musical style or a musical quality.
 17. Amethod for assisting an end user to develop a musical composition, themethod comprising: storing a plurality of musical assets, each of theplurality of musical assets being mapped to a predetermined functionalattribute and a predetermined visual attribute, wherein: a first musicalasset of the plurality of musical assets is mapped to a firstpredetermined functional attribute and includes a first predeterminedvisual attribute depicting an avatar, and a second musical asset of theplurality of musical assets is mapped to a second predeterminedfunctional attribute and includes a second predetermined visualattribute depicting a musical instrument; providing a user interfaceconfigured to render a graphical display that enables the end user toselect the first and second musical assets via display of the first andsecond predetermined visual attributes among one or more visualattributes mapped to one or more of the plurality of musical assets;receiving an indication that the end-user has selected the first andsecond musical assets via selection of the mapped first and secondpredetermined visual attributes; altering at least one portion of asingle audio track by applying the first and second predeterminedfunctional attributes to the at least one portion of the single audiotrack; producing a multi-track musical compilation using the at leastone portion of the single audio track, wherein each of the multipleaudio tracks in the musical compilation are mixed together in a mannerwhere the multiple tracks are substantially musically harmonious withone another; and displaying the avatar while playing the altered audiotrack, wherein the avatar moves in synchronization with the musicaltrack.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein the plurality of musicalassets includes a plurality of a first type of musical assets, and aplurality of a second type of musical assets; and wherein the firstmusical asset is one of the plurality of the first type of musicalassets and the second musical asset is one of the plurality of thesecond type of musical assets.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein thefirst type of musical assets correspond to musical assets associatedwith a first visual indicator of a type of musician and the second typeof musical assets correspond to musical assets associated with a firstvisual indicator of an instrument.
 20. The method of claim 18 whereinthe second functional attribute is based on one or more of pitch,rhythms, modes, musical textures, timbres, expressive qualities, orharmonies.